A study was undertaken to determine whether cocoa swollen shoot virus is transmitted by seeds, to
improve the robustness of quarantine procedures for international exchange and long term conservation
of cocoa germplasm. PCR/capillary electrophoresis, using cocoaswollen shoot virus primers designed from
the most conserved regions of the six published cocoa genome sequences, allowed the detection of cocoa
swollen shoot virus in all the component parts of cocoa seeds from cocoa swollen shoot virus-infected
trees. PCR/capillary electrophoresis revealed the presence of cocoa swollen shoot virus in seedlings raised
from seeds obtained from cocoa swollen shoot virus-infected trees. The high frequency with which the
virus was transmitted through the seedlings suggested that cocoa swollen shoot virus is transmitted by
seeds. This has serious implications for cocoa germplasm conservation and distribution.
carried the virus. It appears that, in anyone dwarfed pod, either all
or none of the beans from infected trees carried the virus. No transmission
was obtained with beans from normal pods taken from
infected trees (Posnette, 1940). Further investigation by Posnette
(1947) has suggested that seed transmission does not occur.