Investigation of viruses infecting Lycopersicum esculentum in Iran and Molecular Analysis of Cucumber Mosaic Virus

Viral diseases cause significant economic losses in tomatoes worldwide. This detect conducted a comprehensive survey in tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L.) fields in Hamedan and Tehran provinces in Iran to detect and determine the incidence of tomato-infecting viruses. Using specific antibodies, collected symptomatic samples (348) were analyzed by Double antibody sandwich (DAS)-ELISA. According to the DAS-ELISA experiment, we found that 26.14% of collected samples were infected Arabis mosaic virus (ArMV), 36.78 % with Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), 10.63% with potato virus Y (PVY) 3.44 % with Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), 7.18 % with Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), and 2.87% with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). Furthermore, double and triple infections were also observed in 15.08 and 6.03% of samples, respectively. As the CMV was the most prevalent among other tested viruses. Moreover, our findings showed that CMV was present in multiple infections of different samples. Serological diagnoses were confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests (RT-PCR) using a pair of primers that are specific for the detection of CMV and resulted in a DNA fragment of the expected size (540 bp). These results confirmed the DAS-ELISA experiment. Furthermore, in this study, we introduced a rapid method that facilitates the diagnosis of CMV in infected samples. Our findings can be used for control strategies and rapid diagnosis of viral infection in plants. Moreover, the outcome of this research can be used for the preparation of resistant cultivars against important viruses in tomatoes.