First report of Cucumber vein yellowing virus in Iraq

Courgette (Cucurbita pepo) is one of the main cucurbit crops grown in Iraq for local consumption. Viruses are a major threat to production Iraq, particularly whitefly-transmitted viruses (Mohammed et al., 2021). In 2022 growing season, courgette plants with extensive leaf vein-yellowing symptoms (Figure 1), associated whitefly infestation, were observed fields around Al-Yusufiyah, Baghdad Province, Iraq. The disease incidence was 40–50%. Thirty samples collected randomly. One sample sent RNAprotect Tissue Reagent (Qiagen, Germany) high throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) at Macrogen Inc. (Seoul, South Korea). Overall, 39,549,599 paired-end reads (151 bp length) obtained. first aligned complete genome sequence Cucurbita pepo via Bowtie2 (v. 2.4.5) deplete host sequence. Velvet assembler 1.2.10) operated de novo assembly unmapped (Lahuf, contigs produced compared plant virus sequences retrieved from GenBank (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/viruses/) using BLASTn algorithms (Abass & Lahuf, 2023). analysis showed ≥99% pairwise nucleotide identity full genomes five Cucumber vein yellowing (CVYV) isolates. Other also detected including Squash curl (SqLCV) and Tomato Palampur (ToLCPMV). Reference-based conducted CVYV (NC_006941.1). A total 86,245 mapped NC_006941.1 100% coverage depth 1.335× BLAST that assembled Iraq-1 shares 99.86% this isolate. isolate deposited (Accession No. OQ685957.1). phylogenetic close relationship between isolates diverse origins, those Spain (AY578085.1 MK777994.1) Portugal (MZ130935.1 OK181771.1) 2). Total extracted thirty diseased samples, sequenced sample, Viral RNA/ Nucleic Acid Mini Kit (Favorgen, Taiwan) kept -20°C further analysis. RT-PCR done OneStep kit CVYV-specific coat protein primers (CV+ CV-) (Cuadrado 2003). amplicons directly infection confirmed all leaves. Another fifty randomly different Province confirm presence region 38 tested positive RT-PCR. This report Additional work needed reveal distribution prevalence CVYV, SqLCV ToLCPMV determine their role causing other curcurbit authors appreciative Plant Protection Department, Agriculture College, University Kerbala Iraqi Ministry Higher Education Scientific Research facilities financial support.