Virome Survey of Banana Plantations and Surrounding Plants in Malawi

A virome survey of banana plantations and their surrounding plants was carried out at nation-wide level in Malawi using virion associated nucleic acids (VANA) high throughput sequencing (HTS) on pooled samples and appropriate alien controls. In total, 366 plants were sequenced, and 23 plant virus species were detected, three species on banana (275 plants) and 20 species in surrounding plants (91 plants). Two putative novel virus species; ginger tymo-like virus and pepper derived totivirus were detected and confirmed by RT-PCR on ginger and pepper. Nine known virus species and detected a host plant was identified for two of them. No viral exchange between banana and surrounding plants was observed. Results from the VANA protocol, applied to pooled banana samples, were compared with previous targeted PCR results obtained from individual banana samples. HTS test detected better BanMMV than IC-(RT)-PCR on individual samples (better inclusivity) but detected with much lower sensitivity BBTV and BSV species, often with less than 10 reads per sample. Detection of novel and known viruses and new host plants calls for strengthened sanitory and phytosanitory measures within and beyond banana production systems. Our research confirms that HTS sensitivity depends on sampling, pooling protocol and targeted virus species.