Characterization of Cucumber mosaic virus Subgroup II Isolated from Paprika (Capsicum annuum var, grossum) in Korea

An isolate of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), PaFMl-CMV causing malformation on the fruit of paprika (Capsicum annuum var, grossum) was characterized based on biological reactions, serological relationships, and partial nucleotide sequence analyses. PaFMl-CMV was distinguishable from other isolates of CMYI Mf-(subgroup I) and LS-CMV (subgroup II), in terms of its reactions to some host plants. Polyclonal antibody against PaFMl-CMV showed homologous antigenic relationship with LS-CMV, however, the antibody formed a spur between PaFMl- and Mf-CMV, In the comparison of molecular size of dsRNAs of PaFMl-CMV with Mf- and LS-CMV, PaFMl-CMV had a slightly smaller RNAl and larger RNA2, RNA3, and RNA4. When the CDNA product of PaFMl-CMV coat protein (CP) gene was digested with some restriction enzymes, the fragment pattern was identical with that of LS-CMV The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of PaFMl-CMV CP gene were 99.5% and 98.6% identical with LS-CMV respectively. The data indicate that PaFMl-CMV belongs to subgroup II of CMV, which is the first report in Korea.