During the last decade, lisianthus {Eustoma grandifiorum) has been introduced in Iran in the horticultural cut-flower industry. This crop is currently produced in more than 800 small greenhouses on a surface of an estimated 0.8 km^ in the Pakdasht region (southeast of Teheran Province). Plants exhibiting virus-like symptoms were observed in several greenhouses in 2010. The infected plants produced yellow and necrotic spots on the leaves and became severely deformed because of a strong leaf curling and the production of shorter internodes. Rower breaking has not been observed in the blue flowering plants. Approximately 85% of the plants were apparently infected in the inspected greenhouses. Extracts of infected material inoculated onto some indicator plant species induced mosaic and leaf malformation on Nicotiana benthamiana, mottling on Capsicum annuum, necrotic lesions on Datura stramonium, chlorotic local spots on Vigna unguiculata, systemic necrotic spots on Emilia sonchifolia, chlorotic local spots on Cucumis sativus, and necrotic local lesions on Petunia hybrida. Back-inoculation of infected material on lisianthus seedlings resulted in several chlorotic spots on the inoculated leaves and a severe downward curling of the systemic infected leaves. No symptoms were observed after inoculation of Pisum sativum, Phaseolus vulgaris. Vicia faba, and Chrysanthemum spp. The virus could also be transferred from infected to healthy N. benthamiana plants by pricking leaves with a Pasteur pipette. Spherical tombusvirus-like particles of approximately 29 nm were found by transmission electron microscopy in leaf-dip and partially purified preparations of infected N. benthamiana. Since Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV; genus Tombusvirus, family Tombusviridae) and Moroccan pepper virus (MPV) have been found in Iran, we studied by using ELISA whether our samples matched with TBSV. Since a negative response was obtained, two primers were designed on the basis of the available sequences of the coat protein in the GenBank (Accession No. EU27780) of an MPV isolate from soil in Fars Province, Iran. A reverse transcription (RT)-PCR of total RNA extract from infected lisianthus and N. benthamiana with the primers MPV-R (5'-TTACAACAATGTGGC ATCATTG-3') and MPV-F (5'-ATGGCAATGGTAGTAAGAAAC-3') resulted in a DNA fragment of 1,176 bp. This fragment from N. benthamiana was cloned, sequenced (Accession No. HQ663881), and showed a 96% nucleotide and 99% amino acid identity with the coat protein of the soil isolate. MPV was originally found in pepper (1), tomato and pelargonium (4), pear tree (3), and surface water (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of MPV on lisianthus in Iran and worldwide. This virus, which persists in soil, water, and plant debris, can be considered as a substantial threat for the lisianthus industry in Iran because farmers do not apply strict crop rotation or other sanitation measures.

Abstract. Subiastuti AS, Hartono S, Daryono BS. 2019. Detection and Identification of Begomovirus infecting Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 738-744. Begomovirus genome has high plasticity that led to evolve rapidly. Begomovirus is one of a remarkably successful group of emerging viruses as the results from combination of many factors. Planting systems in Indonesia which often overlapping two or more plant species in one land has high possibility for occurring mixed infection. It is also suggested has high contribution to increase Begomovirus diversity. The aim of this research is to do preliminary identification of Begomovirus infected-Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae in Yogyakarta based core coat protein (CP) gene sequence. A total of 50 melon, 50 chili, 30 eggplants, and 30 watermelon samples which showed Begomovirus symptoms were observed from several fields in Yogyakarta and Purworejo, Indonesia during 2016. Almost 90% of infected samples for each plant were tested by PCR and showed positive for Begomovirus. Based on coat protein (CP) gene nucleotide sequence identity, Begomovirus infected Solanaceae in Indonesia has close relationship with Pepper yellow leaf curl Indonesia virus (PepYLCIV) and Tomato yellow leaf curl Kanchanaburi virus (TYLCVKaV), while in Cucurbitaceae has close relationship with Squash leaf curl China virus (SLCCV) Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV). All collected isolates showed highest sequence identity with isolates from South-East Asia and China. However, further analysis that including full genome characterization is still needed to explain Begomovirus evolution in Indonesia.

Abstract. Daryono BS, Subiastuti AS, Fatmadanni A, Sartika D. 2019. Phenotypic and genetic stability of new Indonesian melon cultivar (Cucumis melo L. ‘Melonia’) based on ISSR markers. Biodiversitas 20: 1069-1075. Cucumis melo L. ‘Melonia’ was new Indonesian melon cultivars produced by segregation of Meloni cultivar. The Meloni cultivar has a yellowish-skinned color, orange flesh fruit, and sweet taste. The stability of phenotype and genotype characters of this new cultivars were assessed using 27 morphological traits and 4 ISSR primers, respectively. Phenotype characters in F2 and F3 populations have been stable on 25 of 27 morphological traits used, except in weight of seed cavity and color of skin fruit. The 4 ISSR markers were produced 41 fragments, contained 28 monomorphic DNA bands and 13 polymorphic DNA bands. All of DNA bands were scored and used for genetic similarity analysis using MVSP 3.1A Program. The highest genetic variation was produced by UBC-808 primer with a polymorphic percentage of 38.46%. All of ‘Melonia’ populations were clustered together with 100% similarity percentage.  Compared to other cultivars, ‘Melonia’ had high similarity with ‘Meloni’ in 87.8%, meanwhile, ‘Melonia’ and Meloni cultivars had relationship with Melona at a similarity value of 70.7%.

The expression level of Shiga-like toxin of the two local isolates of E. coli O157:H7 did not only depend on the regulatory elements of the stx2 gene.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of physical and chemical properties of soils with ecological species groups in Pinus taeda plantation forests in Guilan province, Iran. For this purpose, a random systematic 100 m × 200 m grid sampling plan was used to establish 75 sampling plots. In each plot, soil factors and percent cover of each herbaceous species were recorded. Sub-plots of 32 m 2 were used for herbaceous species measurements. At each sampling plot, soil samples were collected in depth of 0-30cm. The result of TWINSPAN analysis revealed five dictinct groups. Multivariate analysis was performed through CANOCO 4.5 to explore the relationship between soil factors and plant community. Results showed that the most important soil factors in these communities were N, P, K, OC, Ca, Mg, TNV, pH, SP, soil texture (clay, sand, silt) and EC. The results indicated that the physical and chemical soil characteristics have a significant role in the growth and distribution of plant communities in the study area.