Disease Note.

First Report of Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Tobamovirus Infecting Greenhouse-Grown Cucumber in Spain. A. Celix, CNB-CSIC, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid; M. Luis-Arteaga, SIA, Zaragoza. E. Rodriguez-Cerezo, CNB-CSIC, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid. Plant Dis. 80:1303. Accepted for publication 13 September 1996. Copyright 1996 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-80-1303C.

In the fall of 1991, symptoms of leaf mottle, mosaic, and blistering were observed in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Nevada) plants grown in plastic houses in Almeria, the center of the horticultural area of southeastern Spain. Leaf dips of symptomatic tissue contained rod-shaped viral particles of 300 x 18 nm typical of the tobamoviruses. A partial host range analysis revealed similarities to that of cucumber green mottle mosaic tobamovirus (CGMMV) We designate (he virus as a Spanish isolate of CGMMV (CGMMV-Sp). Among the plant species tested, CGMMV-Sp infected only Cucurbitaceae, inducing mosaic in Cucumis melo L. and Citrullus lanalus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai. CGMMV-Sp did not infect Cucurbita pepo L., Gomphrena globosa L., Chenopodium amaranticolor Coste & Reyn., C. quinoa Willd., Vigna unguiculata L. (Walp.), Datura stramonium L., Nicotiana megalosiphon Heurck Muell, N. tabacum L. cv. Xanthi nc, N. clevelandii Gray, or N. rustica L. CGMMV-Sp induced a mosaic of intermediate severity in cucumber when compared with the Type (mild mosaic) and the CV4 (severe mosaic and deformation of leaf border) strains of CGMMV. Unlike CGMMV-Sp, neither the Type nor the CV4 strains induced blistering in cucumber leaves. In analogy with other strains of CGMMV, two RNA species were found encapsidated in CGMMV-Sp virions: the viral genomic RNA and the subgenomic messenger RNA for the coat protein.