Prevalence and molecular characterization of Cucumber mosaic virus isolates infecting tomato plants in Marmara region of Turkey

Abstract

There are many studies carried out on tomato viruses in Turkey. However, there is no study on the prevalence and genetic diversity of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), one of the most important viral diseases of tomatoes. In this context, surveys were conducted in the tomato production areas of the Marmara region, and samples were taken from 113 tomato plants showing virus and virus-like symptoms, and tests were carried out to determine CMV infection by DAS-ELISA. As a result of the tests, CMV infection was detected in 34 plants. And, 10 CMV isolates were selected for further studies. Coat protein (CP) and movement protein (MP) genes of selected isolates were amplified by RT-PCR and sequenced. As a result of multiple sequence analysis, CMV isolates from the Marmara region showed 97-100% similarity in nucleotide and amino acid levels within themselves, 77-100% in nucleotide level, and 79-100% in amino acid level in the world isolates according to the CP gene. According to the MP gene region, it was determined that the CMV isolates showed 97-100% and 96-100% similarities at the nucleotide and amino acid levels in each other, respectively. The similarity rates with world isolates were determined as 79-100% at the nucleotide level and 81-100% at the amino acid level. As a result of the phylogenetic analyses performed, tomato CMV isolates were closely related to each other according to both gene regions and were in the Ia subgroup.