Molecular Detection and Distribution of Iranian Johnson grass mosaic virus (IJMV) in Golestan Province

Iranian Johnson grass mosaic virus (IJMV) is one of the most important cereal viruses and can cause viral symptoms such as stripe mosaic and red necrotic stripe in corn and sorghum. Recently, these symptoms widely observed in corn and sorghum fields of Golestan province. With regard to native origin and possibility of the virus survival in wild plant hosts and importance of the cereal cultivation in Golestan province, it is necessary to study its incidence, especially in important regions of corn growing farms. In this study, in order to serological and molecular detection and studying the distribution of IJMV in Golestan province, a total of 350 samples were collected from maize, sorghum and some weeds from poaceae family showing mosaic and red necrotic stripe symptoms in 4 stages. Infected samples were checked by ELISA test. A part of coat protein gene of IJMV was amplified in RT-PCR test using general primer pair of potyviruses. The result showed that through 350 samples, 164 (47 per-cent) showed positive reaction and 186 samples showed negative reaction in ELISA test. Maximum infection was in maize samples. The RT-PCR test led to amplification of expected fragment of 327 bp. The purpose of this study is determining of the distribution of IJMV and its extent of infection in different areas of Golestan province. According to the result of this study it has shown that IJMV has a high incidence in Golestan province.