Sweet potato leaf curl virus

Sweet potato leaf curl virus is commonly abbreviated SPLCV. Select isolates are referred to as SPLCV followed by an abbreviation of where they were isolated. For example, the Brazilian isolate is referred to as SPLCV-Br. Sweet potato leaf curl virus is one of more than 20 viruses known to infect the sweet potato. It is part of a group of sweet potato-infecting Begomoviruses generally known as "sweepoviruses". Viruses are common among sweet potatoes because their propagation is commonly dependent on stored roots or stems. Therefore, viruses can build up and have delayed emergence over the years. Viruses in sweet potatoes are problematic because they decrease crop yield and quality of storage roots. This is problematic as sweet potatoes are ranked seventh for global food crops. Sweet potato leaf curl virus is commonly transmitted from insect to plant by whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci). Additionally, it can be transmitted from plant to plant via vegetative propagation, grafting, or the seeds. It is widely speculated that management of the whitefly population is essential to managing the spread of the SPLCV virus between infected and uninfected plants. In one case, the infection spread rapidly between plants within only two years of field planting.

from Wikipedia