Cloning and Construction of Plant Expression of the Coat Protein Gene of a Melon Isolate of Cucumber Mosaic Virus

The coat protein gene of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) from melon isolate (CH99/ 90) was amplified by RT2PCR from the total RNA of infected zucchini leaves and cloned into pUCm2 T vector . The gene consisted of 657 nucleotides encoding 218 putative amino acids. Nucleotide sequence alignments showed that the CP gene shared 92. 2 %～ 93. 9 % homology wit h that of CMV subgroup I strains , whereas only 76. 8 %～77. 8 % homology with that of CMV subgroup II strains. The nucleotide sequence shared 91. 8 %～93. 4 % homology with CMV isolate previously reported from China except for XB isolate. This melon isolate was classified into subgroup I based on these data. The gene was constructed into plant expression vector by using intermediate vector pJIT163 ( recombinant plasmid designated as pBCP) . The recombinant plasmid was transferred into competent cells of Agrobacterium tume faciens LBA4404. Transformation of the gene into watermelon is undertaking.