Quantitative detection of Cucumber vein yellowing virus in susceptible and partially resistant plants using real-time PCR.

A method for the detection of Cucumber vein yellowing virus (CVYV) that combines reverse transcription with real-time PCR (SYBR((R)) Green chemistry) was developed using specific primers designed from a nucleotide sequence of the RNA polymerase gene (NIb) conserved among all the available CVYV strains. This method provided a linear assay over five to six orders of magnitude and reproducibly detected titres as low as 10(3) molecules of the target CVYV cDNA. Real-time PCR gave reproducible results for the quantification of CVYV in young leaves of susceptible and resistant cucumber landraces after mechanical inoculation.