Molecular evidence for bamboo as a new natural host of Cherry necrotic rusty mottle virus

Himalayan ‘maggar’ bamboo (Dendrocalamus hamiltonii), widely distributed in the Himalayas, was found to exhibit mild virus‐like symptoms, which included mosaic, chlorosis, necrotic spots and mottling. Leaf samples from symptomatic plants were subjected to reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) for the detection of Cherry necrotic rusty mottle virus (CNRMV). Sequencing of the amplicon confirmed the presence of the virus. To further establish bamboo as a natural host of CNRMV, 35 varieties of bamboos maintained at CSIR‐IHBT were subjected to double‐antibody sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (DAS‐ELISA) and dot blot hybridization. Our results showed the presence of CNRMV in 21 species of bamboos belonging to five genera, viz. Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, Fargesia, Arundinaria and Melocanna. For further confirmation of the results, the coat protein (CP) gene of CNRMV was amplified from two different local ‘maggar’ plants. Sequencing of the CP gene confirmed the presence of the virus. The two isolates characterized from bamboo plants, shared 99.8% nucleotide sequence identity with sweet cherry isolate JK10 characterized from India. This study presents sequence information from two isolates of the virus. CNRMV infection in bamboo is being reported for the first time and only the second virus reported in bamboo after Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV).