Association of cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus with cucumber plants in India.

Symptoms like bright yellowing, puckering of the leaf, vein banding, and vein thickening were observed on different cucurbit hosts at the experimental farm of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during Kharif 2019. Leaf-dip electron microscopy of the symptomatic leaves revealed the association of isometric virus particles measuring ~ 25 nm with bitter gourd and cucumber samples. The RT-PCR assay using polerovirus generic primers covering the partial RdRp, intergenic region, and partial CP region was resulted the amplicons of ~ 1.1 kb. Subsequent cloning, sequencing, and sequence analysis revealed the association of cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus (CABYV) with bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) plants. These results constitute the first report of CABYV infection on cucumber plants from India. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13337-020-00645-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. © Indian Virological Society 2021.