Scientia Horticulturae

Plant endornaviruses are persistent viruses that infect plants without causing symptoms. Although endornaviruses have been reported in many economically important plant species, little is known about the effect they have on their hosts. Bell pepper endornavirus (BPEV) has been reported in cultivated peppers (Capsicum spp.). In commercial cultivars of bell pepper (C. annuum) grown in the United States, this virus is found at prevalence rates of 100%. Two bell pepper near-isogenic lines (NILs), one BPEV-infected and the other BPEV-free, were generated and used to investigate the type of symbiotic relationship between BPEV and bell pepper. Selected morphological and physiological characteristics of the NILs were evaluated. The overall appearance of the two NILs was similar. When compared with the BPEV-infected line, the BPEV-free line had a significantly higher percentage of seed germination. The plant height, number of fruits, and total fruit weight was higher in plants of the BPEV-free line than in plants of the BPEV-infected line; however, in most experiments, the differences were not statistically significant (p < 0.05). Other characteristics between the two lines, such as, stem diameter, percentage of dry weight, fruit volume, chlorophyll, carotenoid, and anthocyanin content, were similar. The results obtained in this investigation suggest that for the evaluated characters, BPEV appears to have a weak parasitic relationship with the host.

Morphological and physiological characteristics of endornavirus-infected and endornavirus-free near-isogenic lines of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum)