Determination of Virus Resistance in Some Melon Accession Collected From Van Lake Basin by Mechanic Inoculation and Molecular Methods

Abstract

Melon (Cucumis melo L.) is an important vegetable crop grown in different geographical regions of Turkey. Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) cause major economic losses because of their destructive effects on melon. In this study, 22 different melon genotypes collected from the Lake Van Basin, three resistant genotypes and two commercial varieties were screened against these three viruses by mechanical inoculation and molecular methods. In the first step, virus inoculation was performed on melon genotypes using ZYMV virus, and disease severity was determined according to 0-5 scale by performing morphological observations in the genotypes. In second stage of the study the presence of markers related to resistance genes against to ZYMV, CMV and WMV were determined by screening with 7 primers including 3 SCAR primers and 4 CAPS primers in these genotypes. None of the genotypes tested mechanically against the severe ZYMV isolate were found to be tolerant, resistant or immune to the virus. It was determined that the disease severity was ranged between 8.80-95.00% in melon genotypes. While bands were obtained from SCOPE14541 primer in 21 genotypes, only U6, U13 and YYU6 genotypes from 25 genotypes gave bands with SCAPB051046 primer that was developed based on the Creb-2 resistance gene. VirSq-F19 primer that was developed based on the resistance genes to ZYMV and WMV gave bands in all genotypes excluding YYU47. Only two of the 4 CAPS primers associated with the Zym resistance gene produced band.