Infectious clone development of a recombinant strain of cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus from Brazil by Gibson Assembly

In Brazil, the main viral disease of the melon crop is severe yellowing disease called “Amarelão do Meloeiro”, and a polerovirus, cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus (CABYV) is considered one of its etiological agents. This virus is a recombinant strain originated from CABYV and unknown polerovirus. Due to unsuccessful mechanical inoculations of CABYV to host plants, the study of its biological characterization is hampered. Therefore, an infectious clone of the recombinant strain of CABYV was constructed using the Gibson Assembly technology in this study. The full-length genomic cDNA clone produced here was shown to be infectious in cucurbit species such as melon, squash and West Indian gherkin plants, but not for watermelon, cucumber and zucchini plants. This insusceptibility of watermelon plants to the infectious clone corroborates the absence of this virus occurrence in watermelon fields often located near by the melon plantations. This infectious clone provides the important tool for future study in developing resistant melon variety to CABYV infection.