1Plant Virus Lab, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR), Himachal Pradesh-176 061, India.
2Department of Pomology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences & Technology, Srinagar, J&K, India.
3Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture, ul. Pomologiczna 18,96–100 Skierniewice, Poland.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
Cherry (Prunus spp.) is an important temperate fruit crop (family Rosaceae), susceptible to infection by many viruses: Little cherry virus-1& 2 (LChV), Cherry virus A, Cherry green ring mottle virus, Cherry necrotic rusty virus. LChV-1 is an important mealybug (Phenacoccus aceris) transmitted virus (an unassigned species in the family closteroviridae;). LChV-1 in association with LChV-2 and separately can cause little cherry disease (LChD). As a result of this disease, yield losses of up to 25–60% have been reported. Samples were collected from plants showing chlorotic spot and necrotic rings on leaves and smaller fruit size from cherry growing region of India: Srinagar (J&K) and Shimla (H.P.). For the identification/detection of LChV-1, the samples were tested using dot blot using cloned probe encompassing 3’-UTR. Positive results were obtained in dot blot from 8 out of 64 samples from both the locations. RNA was isolated from the positive leaf samples by RNeasy Plant mini kit (Qiagen, Germany). RT- PCR was performed using primers LCV1U16390 and LCV1L16890. Two out of eight positive samples from Lupin and Stella varieties gave an amplification of ~400 bp, which was sequenced (388 bp on sequencing; EMBL accession no. FM211646). The nucleotide sequence was analysed and compared with the other reported sequences. The sequence exhibited nucleotide and protein similarity level of 93% and 89–90% respectively. This is the first report confirming the presence of LChV-1 in cherry from India.
