Molecular Identification and New Host Record for Cucumber mosaic virus Infecting Cynara scolymus in Khorasan Razavi province

The artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) is a multi-purpose product (food, forage, and medicinal) with a high economic value in the world, with immature flowers used as vegetables and salads and its leaves used for medicinal purposes. Artichoke plants are mostly propagated vegetatively, and pathogens are easily transferred from mother to daughter plants. To date, approximately 25 viruses, including Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), have been isolated from artichokes, infecting the host either alone or in combination with other viral strains. In this study, CMV was isolated from artichoke samples collected from Torogh Research Station (Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education center) with symptoms of chlorotic mottling, shoestringing, and leaf narrowing. The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was carried out with the help of specific primers (CMVF/R).The results of PCR and sequencing of 657 bp of coat protein genes revealed that these samples were CMV infected. One isolate was chosen and deposited in GenBank under the accession number OM959539. The sequence was compared with reference CMV isolates from GenBank by BLASTn search analysis. According to the findings, the sequence isolated in this study has the highest nucleotide identity percentage (98.7 percent) when compared to isolates from Turkey (LC066503) and Iran (KT279570 and JX112021).This is the first report of CMV infection in globe artichoke in Iran. As a result, it is essential to control host weeds and use virus-free seeds to protect the crop.