Resistance Assessment to PHYVV and PepGMV in Wild and Domesticated Accessions of <em>Capsicum annuum</em> L. by Bioballistic Inoculation

Chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an economically important crop in Mex-21 ico, whose production is limited by viral diseases caused by Begomovirus infections such 22 as PHYVV and PepGMV, both transmitted by Bemisia tabaci. These viruses affect both do-23 mesticated cultivars and wild populations. The use of resistant genotypes is the most ef-24 fective strategy to reduce Begomovirus incidence. Since no commercial cultivars with re-25 sistance are currently available, in this study 15 Capsicum annuum accessions with differ-26 ent levels of domestication were inoculated separately with infectious PepGMV and 27 PHYVV dimers by bioballistics, in order to identify sources of genetic resistance or toler-28 ance to these viruses. Symptom progression (severity), incidence, the area under the dis-29 ease progress curve (AUDPC), and molecular detection of viral DNA by PCR were rec-30 orded in asymptomatic plants. PCR results with oligonucleotides targeting PepGMV and 31 PHYVV showed that 96% of asymptomatic plants were positive, confirming that viral 32 replication occurred without the development of visible symptoms. Significant differ-33 ences were observed among accessions, with wild and semidomesticated accessions 34 showing very low values of severity, incidence, and AUDPC. Notably, the wild accession 35 Acc-106 exhibited resistance to PepGMV and tolerance to PHYVV, with minimum values 36 of severity (0 and 0.13) and incidence (0% and 13%) at 35 days postinoculation.