Section: Infections
Topic: Agricultural sciences, Plant biology

CMV can spread through plant to plant contact: implications for experimental practices

Chateau, Lola1; Szadkowski, Marion1; Théodore, Jérémy1; Rimbaud, Loup1 orcid 
1INRAE, Pathologie végétale, 84140 Montfavet, France

Corresponding author(s): Rimbaud, Loup (loup.rimbaud@inrae.fr)

10.24072/pcjournal.675 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e8

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Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is a major plant pathogen with a worldwide distribution and the widest host range among all known plant viruses. It affects numerous crop species and can cause symptoms that significantly reduce yield. CMV is primarily transmitted by aphids and more sporadically through seeds. It is frequently studied in laboratory settings with the aim of developing effective control strategies. In many experiments, infected plants are placed in direct contact with healthy ones assuming that CMV cannot be transmitted in this way. However, this has not been formally demonstrated. Therefore, this study aimed to assess whether CMV can be transmitted through plant-to-plant contact. Infected plants were first rubbed against healthy ones and then left in contact for 28 days. Target plants were subsequently tested using DAS-ELISA to detect potential transmission. We applied this protocol in two separate experiments totalizing 15 combinations of plant species including pepper (Capsicum annuum) and five weed species commonly found in Espelette pepper fields (Capsella bursa-pastoris, Cerastium glomeratum, Stellaria media, Stachys arvensis and Trifolium repens). We found that CMV could be transmitted through contact between pepper and all tested weed species except T. repens. These findings highlight the importance of verifying whether a virus is capable of contact transmission before carrying out experiments in conditions that could lead to such contacts. In case of transmission, appropriate precautions will be crucial to avoid unintended transmissions.

Published online:
DOI: 10.24072/pcjournal.675
Type: Research article
Keywords: cucumber mosaic virus, contact transmission, pepper, weed, arena, propensity

Chateau, Lola  1 ; Szadkowski, Marion  1 ; Théodore, Jérémy  1 ; Rimbaud, Loup  1

1 INRAE, Pathologie végétale, 84140 Montfavet, France
License: CC-BY 4.0
Copyrights: The authors retain unrestricted copyrights and publishing rights
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     title = {CMV can spread through plant to plant contact: implications for experimental practices
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Chateau, L.; Szadkowski, M.; Théodore, J.; Rimbaud, L. CMV can spread through plant to plant contact: implications for experimental practices. Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article  no. e8. https://doi.org/10.24072/pcjournal.675

PCI peer reviews and recommendation, and links to data, scripts, code and supplementary information: 10.24072/pci.infections.100255

Conflict of interest of the recommender and peer reviewers:
The recommender in charge of the evaluation of the article and the reviewers declared that they have no conflict of interest (as defined in the code of conduct of PCI) with the authors or with the content of the article.

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