Characterization of a new cucurbit-infecting ipomovirus from Sudan

Two members of the genus Ipomovirus (family Potyviridae) are known to infect cucurbits: cucumber vein yellowing virus (CVYV), which is emerging throughout the Mediterranean Basin, and squash vein yellowing virus (SqVYV), which has been described in America and the Caribbean Basin, and more recently in Israel. In this work, an ipomovirus different from CVYV and SqVYV, tentatively named coccinia mottle virus (CocMoV), was detected in a sample of the cucurbit Coccinia grandis collected in central Sudan in 2012. Sequence identity in nt was 68 % with CVYV, 59-60 % with SqVYV, cassava brown streak virus and Ugandan cassava brown streak virus, and less than 50 % with other members of the family Potyviridae. Preliminary biological and epidemiological studies indicate that CocMoV has a narrow natural host range and a low prevalence.