Genetic variation and evolutionary analysis of Cucumber mosaic virus in medicinal, aromatic and ornamental plants from Northern Italy

The genetic variation and evolution of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) (1) infecting aromatic, medicinal and ornamental plants in Northern Italy were studied by sequence analysis of the movement protein gene and comparison with equivalent sequences of isolates from other countries. Comparison of nonsynonymous and synonymous substitutions at each codon suggested that 30% of amino acid sites were under negative selection and only one was under positive selection. Phylogenetic inference, nucleotide diversity estimation, neutrality tests and genetic differentiation analysis revealed a high nucleotide diversity of CMV in Northern Italy with respect to areas of other countries [1,2] and suggested that long distance migration plays a main role in the evolution and determination of the different genetic structures of this virus. 1. García-Arenal et al., 2000. Virus Res 71:1. 2. Lin H.X. et al., 2004. J Virol 78:6666.