Etiology of leaf chlorosis and deterioration of the fruit interior of watermelon plants

• Published in: Journal of phytopathology Vol. 152; no. 10; pp. 580 - 588
• Main Authors: Boubourakas, I.N, Hatziloukas, E, Antignus, Y, Katis, N.I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Germany Blackwell Verlag GmbH 01-10-2004; Blackwell
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; chlorosis; Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus; Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus; disease reservoirs; fruit diseases; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; genes; host range; leaves; molecular sequence data; movement protein; nucleotide sequences; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; plant diseases and disorders; Plant viruses and viroids; reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction; symptoms; Tobamovirus; viral proteins; watermelon; watermelons; weed hosts; weeds; Plant pathology; RNA-directed DNA polymerase; Microbiology; Plant pathogen; Enzyme; Transferases; Citrullus lanatus; Cucurbitaceae; Tobamovirus; weed hosts; Virus; Polymerase chain reaction; reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction; Nucleotidyltransferases; Plant; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus; Spermatophyta; watermelon
• ISSN: 0931-1785; 1439-0434
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0434.2004.00900.x

A severe disease with combined symptomatology affecting only grafted watermelon plants appeared in several regions of northern and central Greece during the summers of 1999 and 2000. Disease symptoms included chlorotic mottling followed by pedicel necrosis at a later more mature fruit stage, and finally decomposition of fruit interior. Electron microscopy, double antibody sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay tests and reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction assays identified Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) as the causal agent. Our studies indicated that the CGMMV isolates from watermelon are closely related to the Israeli variant of CGMMV (CGMMV‐Is). However, bioassays revealed that the Greek isolates elicit symptoms of higher severity and have a wider host range, compared with other described CGMMV isolates. Nucleotide sequence comparison of the movement protein gene of the Greek isolates showed a 97–99% identity with other CGMMV strains. This paper reports the presence of the virus in arable weeds such as Amaranthus blitoides, Amaranthus retroflexus, Heliotropium europaeum, Portulaca oleracea and Solanum nigrum.