Molecular Characterization of Cucumber Mosaic Virus Subgroup IB in Iraq

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) isolate was identified on cucumber and cowpea plants exhibiting mosaic, mottling and leaf distortion in local fields in the province of Baghdad. The virus was characterized by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using coat protein (CP) gene specific primers. Comparison of the coat protein sequence revealed up to 98-99% nucleotide identity with known CMV isolates. Phylogenetic analysis based on coat protein gene sequence clustered the Iraqi CMV isolate with members of subgroup IB. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of CMV subgroup IB in Iraq.