Molecular Characterization and Distribution of Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus in China.

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) is an emerging virus on watermelon in China. We report here the almost complete nucleotide sequence and the characterization of the genome of a Chinese isolate (CGMMV-LN). Nucleotide sequence comparisons showed CGMMV-LN is closely related to CGMMV-KOM, with 99.4% identity. On the basis of the nucleotide sequence, a digoxigenin-labelled cDNA probe CG, complementary to the replicase gene region of CGMMV was synthesized. The specificity and sensitivity of the probe was tested. The detection limit of the method was equivalent to 0.8 μg fresh tissues infected by CGMMV. Two hundreds and eighteen watermelon samples collected from different regions in China during 2006–2007 were tested by this method. The distribution pattern of CGMMV in China during these years was revealed. The virus has spread in five provinces of China so far, including Liaoning, Hebei, Guangdong, Hubei and Shandong and might be an increasing tendency, which provides important information for CGMMV control in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]