Two researchers at Faculty of Agriculture / University of Kerbala are able to reach, for the first time in Iraq, the complete molecular diagnosis and characterization of two viruses that infect tree crops.
The two researchers, Dr. Adnan Abdul-Jalil Lahof, a lecturer at Faculty of Agriculture / University of Kerbala, and a postgraduate student, Muhammad Saadoun Muhammad, use next-generation sequencing technology to fully diagnose and characterize squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) and squash vein yellowing virus (SqVYV).
This study is able to determine sequence of nitrogen bases of the entire genome of SLCV virus, as it is found that it consists of two segments: DNA-A with a length of 2633 base pairs and DNA-B with a length of 2608 base pairs.
The results of genetic kinship analysis show that the virus is related to strains spread in Middle East, which indicates possibility that it entered Iraq for the first time from a country in the Middle East.
The researchers conclude that SqVYV virus is previously recorded, but on other crops, and that its genome consists of a single segment with a length of 10,054 base pairs. It is related to strains spread in Palestine and United States of America.
The importance of this study, which is registered in GenBank of National Center for Biotechnology Information, stems from the fact that it contributes to identify types of plant viruses that infect tree crops, in order to breed and develop varieties that are resistant to all viruses from this crop.
