Analysis of natural populations and possible natural reassortment of Cucumber mosaic virus

Plants naturally infected with Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) were collected and analyzed by electrophoresis of the replicative form of dsRNA and by Northern blot hybridization using CMV RNA-specific probes. Some of the CMV-infected plants, especially winter crops, contained two kinds of RNA 1 segments or RNA 2 segments (or both), suggesting that mixed infections of CMV occurred naturally. Single-aphid-transmitted isolates (SATIs) from the field isolate containing two RNA 1 segments were grouped into three types by the electrophoretic mobility of RNA 1 (i.e., those containing one slow segment, those containing one fast segment, and those containing both). Furthermore, SATIs and single-lesion isolates, generated from the plants inoculated with a mixture of two CMV isolates that could be differentiated by their electrophoretic dsRNA profiles, were analyzed by dsRNA, indicating that nonparental progenies were observed. These results suggested that genetic reassortment of CMV RNA may occur in nature and that this is an important mechanism in CMV evolution.