Characteristics of Cucumber mosaic virus Infecting Zucchini in Korea

A virus causing stunt, yellowing, severe mosaic, malformation symptoms on leaves and uneven development and malformation on fruits of zucchini was prevalent around Goseong, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. A survey conducted (2004) in the Goseong area revealed about 20% virus infection rate. The disease causative identified as Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-Z1) was further characterized. The isolate induces mosaic symptoms on Cucumis sativus, while severe mosaic, stunt and malformation on C. pepo. Thin section analyses have shown that virus inclusions are formed in the cuticle layers as well as epidermal, parenchyma and collenchymas cells in virus-infected Nicotiana tabacum. CMV-Z1 isolate induced specific cytoplasmic inclusion bodies such as irregular clumps (IC), crystal (Cr) and irregular chloroplasts (ICh). IC was made up of virus particles interspersed with a darkly stained amorphous material and found both in the cytoplasm and vacuoles, whereas ICh and Cr were rarely found in the vacuoles. The genome of CMV-Z1 RNA-1 consists of 3359 nucleotide (nt) encoding 1a protein of 993 amino acids (aa). The CMVZ1 RNA-2 was 3050 nt in length containing 2a (857 aa) and 2b (110 aa), while RNA-3 encoding 3a movement protein (279 aa) and coat protein (218 aa) was 2215 nt in length. Phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequences of CMV-Z1 isolate appeared it is more closely related to subgroup IA than to subgroup IB or II.