First Report and the Genetic Variability of Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus Occurring on Bottle Gourd in Myanmar

Bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.] plants showing leaf mosaic and mottle were observed in Myanmar in 2007 and shown by RT-PCR and ELISA to be infected with Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV). This is the first report of the virus occurring in Myanmar. Despite considerable differences in geographical origins, natural host species and year of sampling of 22 CGMMV isolates, we found low genetic variation of the CP gene except for isolates GR3 and GR5, which showed similarity higher than 97%; based on the MP gene, and 16 CGMMV isolates showed similarity higher than 94% in nucleotide identities by pairwise comparison. Using MluI restriction endonuclease for CP genes, the CGMMV isolates fell into three types: Type I and Type II were included in the SH group and Type III in the W group. The two CGMMV isolates from Myanmar were found to belong to Type I and Type III, respectively.