First Report of Fig Mosaic Virus ( Emaravirus fici ) Infecting Ficus elastica

ABSTRACT In 2024, a rubber plant ( Ficus elastica ) growing in a residence in Athens, Greece, displayed severe virus‐disease like symptoms. Testing for the presence of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV, Orthotospovirus tomatomaculae ) and impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV, Orthotospovirus impatiensnecromaculae ) was negative. High‐throughput sequencing (HTS) analysis and de novo assembly followed by BLASTn annotation of the produced contigs resulted in the exclusive identification of fig mosaic virus (FMV, Emaravirus fici ). RT‐PCR assays designed based on the HTS‐derived sequences, followed by Sanqer sequencing, confirmed the presence of FMV. Further analysis showed that the RNAs of the FMV‐FeL isolate did not differ from those submitted in GenBank in terms of phylogenetic identity and genetic signature. The virus was not detected in 10 plants belonging to different Ficus spp. or F. elastica varieties, sampled from a nursery specialised to Ficus spp. trade. The fact that the rubber plant solely infected with FMV displayed a severe symptomatology, together with the vector transmission mode of the virus, raises concerns for an imminent threat of FMV infection to F. elastica cultivation and trade. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented evidence of FMV naturally infecting Ficus elastica .