Identification of watermelon as a new natural host of chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus in Iran

Document Type : Short Report

Authors

1 Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

2 Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman

Abstract

In recent years, yield losses due to chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus (CpCDV, Mastrevirus, Geminiviridae) infection have been intensified in a large number of plants such as watermelon, okra and cotton and the virus has been reported around the world (Kanakala and Kuria 2018). In the current study, natural infection of watermelon with CpCDV was investigated. Watermelon samples showing leaf chlorosis, hardness and discoloration of the flesh with whitish stripes, deformation and increasing seed abortion of fruits (Fig. 1) were collected from watermelon-growing farms in Behbahan (Khuzestan Province) in 2018. Total DNA of the samples was extracted from leaf tissue using the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) method followed by the enrichment of the extracted circular DNA molecules by rolling circle amplification (RCA) method using phi 29 DNA polymerase (TempliPhi kit, GE Healthcare, USA). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests using RCA product as DNA template and the primer pair CpCDV-752-F/CpCDV-1326-R (Askari et al. 2021) resulted in the amplification of an expected 575 bp DNA fragment (Fig. 2) indicating the infection of the all tested samples with CpCDV. The definitive infection of a PCR positive sample (W1) with CpCDV was confirmed by sequencing of PCR product.

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