Pesticidi i Fitomedicina (Jan 2011)
Characterization of Cucumber Mosaic Virus Originating from Cucurbits in Serbia
Abstract
Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is considered one of the most economically importantplant viruses and has a worldwide distribution and a very wide host range including plantsfrom family Cucurbitaceae. In Serbia, on cucurbits CMV was detected in single and mixedinfections with Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) and Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV). Viruses,including CMV, are constantly present in cucurbit crops, but their frequency changesby year and locality. Surveys and sample collections were conducted in cucurbit crops inthe period from 2008 to 2009 at 15 localities in Vojvodina province, and sample testing wascarried out using the DAS-ELISA method and commercially available antisera for six economicallymost important cucurbit viruses. In 2008, a total of 51 samples were collected from13 cucurbit crops of oilseed pumpkin Olinka variety, squash, and bottle gourd and CMV wasdetected in a total of 55% of tested samples with symptoms of viral infection. The most commoninfectious type was mixed infection with ZYMV and WMV (35.3%), and then mixedinfection with ZYMV (17.7%) and WMV (2%). A total of 599 symptomatic samples of oilseedpumpkin Olinka variety, zucchini squash varieties Beogradska and Tosca, squash, and wintersquash were collected in 15 cucurbits crops in 2009. CMV was present in 4.4% of totalcollected samples, in single infections in 1.3%, and in mixed with WMV or ZYMV in 1.3%, and1.8%. Five CMV isolates were obtained by mechanical inoculations of N. glutinosa and oneof them was selected for further biological characterization. Test plants which were describedto be hosts of CMV expressed symptoms characteristic for those caused by CMV afterinoculations by isolate 115-08. CMV specific primers Au1u/Au2d were used to amplify an850 bp fragment using RT-PCR method. Amplified fragment encodes the entire viral coatprotein (CP) gene and partial 5’ and 3’ UTRs of two selected CMV isolates. Amplified fragmentswere sequenced and deposited in the NCBI, where they were assigned accessionnumbers, HM065510 (115-08) and HM065509 (151-08). The sequences of CMV isolates fromSerbia shared the highest nucleotide and amino acid identity with isolates from subgroupIA, from 99.5 to 97.4% and 99.1 to 97.4%, and the lowest identities were with the subgroup IIisolates from 66.9 to 64, 5%, from 75.8 to 74.1%.
