Detection of Lily symptomless virus, Lily mottle virus, and Cucumber mosaic virus from Lilium Grown in Korea by RT-PCR

Leaf samples and bulbs showing characteristic symptoms of virus infection were collected from Gang-won, Chung-nam, and Jeju Province of Korea in 2008-2009. Three viruses, Lily symptomless virus (LSV), Lily mottle virus (LMoV), and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) were detected by RT-PCR. Virus-infected plant samples were identified; 12 plants with LSV, 20 plants with LMoV, and 1 plant with CMV. Of the twelve LSV infected samples, seven samples were found to be mix-infected with LMoV and LSV. Symptoms of LMoV and LSV mixed infection were fairly severe, like as vein clearing, leaf curling, leaf mottling, leaf mosaic, and yellow streaking. Mixed infection with LMoV and LSV was also found in lily bulbs which have been stored under unfavorable environmental conditions. LMoV predominated in our tests, whereas spread of Lilyvirus X (LVX) was not found. The nucleotide sequences of coat protein (CP) region of seven isolates (4 LMoV, 2 LSV, and 1 CMV) were compared with the corresponding regions of LMoV (AJ564636), LSV (AJ516059) and CMV(AJ296154). The nucleotide sequence homologies between reference viruses and seven isolates were 95-99%. Complete sequencing of seven isolates is necessary to obtain more information on the molecular characteristics of these viruses as well as to increase sensitivity and rapidity of viral detection.