Virus-like symptoms including stunt, severe mosaic with malformation of leaves, fern-like leaves and abnormal petals were observed from an African impatiens (Impatiens walleriana) grown in a plant nursery in Icheon, Korea. Serological analysis using immuno-strip kits for viruses reported in African impatiens indicated that Cucumber mosaic virus (named CMV-Im) was a causal agent for the symptomatic African impatiens. Biological properties of CMV-Im were analyzed using responses of host plant species, suggesting that CMV-Im is a typical strain that belongs to CMV subgroup I. RT-PCR analysis verified CMV-Im infection from naturally infected African impatiens or mechanically inoculated some host species. Analysis of multiple alignments of CMV capsid protein (CP) sequences showed that CMV-Im shared high CP amino acids identities with other CMV strains. Phylogenetic tree analysis for the CP sequences of CMV-Im and representative CMV strains confirmed that CMV is a typical member of CMV subgroup I. To our knowledge, it is the first report of CMV in African impatiens in Korea.
Keywords : African impatiens, Capsid protein, Cucumber mosaic virus, Immuno-strip, Sequence analysisImpatiens walleriana, commonly called 'African impatiens' or 'New Guinea impatiens', is a year-round outdoor blooming perennial, native to eastern Africa including Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. African impatiens can be bred easily by cuttings and the shoots also have high regenerating capacity after harvesting. African impatiens is frequently used for bedding and decoration of borders or used as pot plants in the world. Since 1990's, African impatiens plants have been grown in some gardens of Korea and have been distributed throughout the nation by commercial plant nurseries.Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), a type species of the genus Cucumovirus in the family Bromoviridae, is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus with a tripartite genome (Palukaitis et al., 1992;Palukaitis and Garcia-Arenal, 2003). CMV strains can be divided into three subgroups, IA, IB and II (Roossink et al., 1999;Palukaitis and Garcia-Arenal, 2003). CMV is consisted of three genomic RNAs. RNA 1 encodes 1a protein that contains domains of methyltransferase and helicase for viral replication. RNA2 encodes 2a protein (the viral polymerase) and 2b protein that is essential for viral systemic movement and infectivity in some host plants (Ding et al., 1995;Hayes and Buck, 1990). RNA 3 encodes the 3a protein (movement protein, MP) for viral movement and the capsid protein (CP) for encapsidation which is translated from a subgenomic RNA 4. CMV has an extremely broad host range of approximately 1,000 species including vegetables, cereals, flowering plants and trees (Gal-On et al., 1994;Lee et al., 2007;Palukaitis and Garcia-Arenal, 2003;Ryu et al., 1998).In March 2014, virus-like symptoms including stunt, severe mosaic with malformation of leaves, fern-like leaves and abnormal petals were observed from an African impatiens plant grown in a plant nursery in Icheon, Korea (
342(TBSV),...