OCCURRENCE OF FIG LEAF MOTTLE-ASSOCIATED VIRUS 2 IN IRAN

Abstract

Fig mosaic disease (FMD) is prevalent in production fig orchards in Iran (Shahmirzaee et al., 2012). Fig leaf mottle-associated virus 2 (FLMaV-2) is a putative member of the family Closteroviridae that has been found in FMD-affected fig plants in the Mediterranean basin (Elbeaino et al., 2009). During a survey of fig plantations in Mazandaran province in the North of Iran in 2012, plenty of FMD symptoms such as foliar mosaic, chlorosis, line patterns and malformations were observed. Mechanical inoculations of crude sap from symptomatic fig leaves extracted in 0.1 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, containing 0.01 % Na2SO3 were done on Cucumis sativus, Chenopodium quinoa, Gomphrena globosa, Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun and Vigna unguiculata but none of these hosts showed symptoms. To determine the presence of FLMaV-2, 20 symptomatic fig leaf samples were randomly collected and tested by RT-PCR) using total RNA isolated with the GF-TR-100 RNA Isolation Kit (Vivantis, Malaysia) and specific primers (F3-s: 5'-GAACAGTGCCTATCAGTTTGATTTG-3'; F3-a: 5'- TCCCACCTCCTGCGAAGCTAGAGAA-3') designed on the heat shock protein 70 homologue (HSP70h) gene (Elbeaino et al., 2007). A HSP70h DNA fragment of the expected size (360 bp) was amplified from one sample and directly sequenced. A BLAST analysis of the FLMaV-2 sequence (GenBank accession No. KC534878) showed 99-100% and 86-99% identity at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively, with comparable sequences of other FLMaV-2 isolates (GenBank accession Nos. FJ473383, FN687742, FN687747 and FN687743). This is the first report of FLMaV-2 in Iran.