The use RT - PCR for detection of viruses infecting cucumber

Cucumber plants exhibiting virus-like disease symptoms were collected in various gardens and greenhouses in Lithuania. Viral diseases were expressed by symptoms of mosaicmottling, yellow ringspots and vein necrosis of leaves. Growth and fruiting of plants were reduced. Results of the identification of viruses detected in cucumbers by the RT-PCR technique are presented here. Identification of causal agents was based on cDNA amplified product size in PCRs using virus-specific oligonucleotides. From cucumbers with various viruslike symptoms 400, 499 and 300 bp DNA fragments were amplified. They are characteristic for Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Tomato ringspot virus (ToRSV) and Tobacco necrosis virus (TNV), respectively, and confirm cucumber infection by these viruses.