Isolation and Characterization of Watermelon Isolate of Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus(CGMMV-HY1) from Watermelon Plants with Severe Mottle Mosaic Symptoms

We isolated the Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus(CGMMV) particles from watermelon leaves and designated as CGMMV-HY1 as a watermelon isolate and attempted to characterize the pathogenic isolate responsible for such an epidemic in watermelon and also to monitor dominant viral isolates in greenhouse. The watermelon plants infected with CGMMV generally showed mottle mosaic, mosaic, growth stunting, necrosis and deformed fruit. The reactions of indicator plants to CGMMV-HY1 were the local lesions on Nicotiana tabacum cv. White Burley, Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun, and Chenopodium amaranticola, and the mosaic symptoms only on Cucumis sativus, but the CGMMV-HY1 did not infect Nicotiana sylvesytis, Datura stramonium, Chenopodium quinoa, and Petunia hybrida. Purified virus particles were rod-shaped and about 300 nm long. The coat protein (CP) of purified CGMMV-HY1 was single band with molecular weight of about 16.5 kDa which was confirmed by western blot analysis probed with monoclonal antibody of CGMMV-HY1. The genomic and subgenomic RNAs of 6.4 kb and 0.75 kb were revealed by the electrophoresis on 1.2% formaldehydedenatured agarose gel. Viral and complementary CGMMV-specific primer sets were designed for spanning the genome using previously reported CGMMV sequences. A 464bp of CP gene of CGMMV-HY1 was amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into PGEM-T easy vector. The nucleotide sequence of CP gene of CGMMV-HY1 shared 98%, 99%, and 100% identities with that of CGMMV strains W, KOM, and KW respectively. Based on these results, we identified CGMMV-HY1 as a CGMMV isolate of watermelon, a member of Tobamovirus.