شناسایی ویروس مولتان پیچیدگی برگ پنبه، گونه جدید بگوموویروس در ایران

The Chinese hibiscus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L., is a common ornamental shrub in warm and humid regions of Iran like Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran. During 2019, several Chinese hibiscus plants showing begomovirus like symptoms including vein enation and leaf cupping were observed in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province. New plants obtained from cuttings of symptomatic plants showed the same symptoms. Leaf samples of parental and progeny plants were collected and total DNA was extracted by the CTAB method. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed to test the begomovirus infection of the samples using degenerate primer pairs BC/PCRV181, PCRC 1/PBL1V 2040 and β01/β02 for detection of a part of genomic components (DNA-A and DNA-B) and the associated betasatellites of begomoviruses, respectively. An expected 500 bp fragment corresponding to complete V2 and partial V1 ORFs of monopartite begomovirus genome was amplified from symptomatic H. rosa-sinensis plants while no amplicon was detected for DNA-B or betasatellite DNA. PCR products were sequenced in both directions. Multiple sequence alignment of Khuzestan and other known GenBank isolates was performed using the BLASTx program implemented in the NCBI server. Results indicated that the Iranian isolate shares 93 to 96% pairwise identities with different GenBank isolates of Cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMuV). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that cotton leaf curl viruses originated from H. rosa-sinensis like Khuzestan isolate of CLCuMuV formed a separated cluster. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the CLCuMuV incidence in Iran. Considering the widespread presence of the whitefly vector in the country, this virus can be potentially a serious threat to other economically important crops in Iran.