Serological and Molecular detection of Squash mosaic virus in Cucurbits growing areas of Khorasan Razavi and Northern Khorasan Provinces

Melon veinbanding mosaic is characterized by formation of green vein banding in varieties of Cucumis melo L. The disease is caused by virus of about 30 nm diameter. During a survey in fall and summer of 2008 and 2009، out of 270 samples collected from cucurbit plants from different fields in Khorasan Razavi and Northern Khorasan provinces، 46 samples shown infection of SqMV by DAS-ELISA using specific polyclonal antibody (provided by Agdia company). Based on host range and sampling location، eight ELISA positive samples were selected for further investigation and were inoculating under plants in greenhouse condition. Specific primers were designed to amplify a fragment (226bp) of SqMV protease gene by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using the total RNA extracted from SqMV infected samples. Amplified product was sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis with MEGA 4. 1 by using 226 nucleotides sequence length of protease gene showed that Torbat-e-Jam isolate is very closed to Y-SqMV from Japan.