Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus Decreases Chlorophyll a Content in Cucurbit Crops by Upregulating the Key Gene in Chlorophyll Catabolic Pathway, Chlorophyllase 1

Li, Zhenggang; Tang, Yafei; Lan, Guobing; Yu, Lin; Ding, Shanwen; He, Zifu; She, Xiaoman

doi:10.3390/plants14193086

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Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus Decreases Chlorophyll a Content in Cucurbit Crops by Upregulating the Key Gene in Chlorophyll Catabolic Pathway, Chlorophyllase 1

by

Zhenggang Li

^†

,

Yafei Tang

^†

,

Guobing Lan

,

Lin Yu

,

Shanwen Ding

,

Zifu He

^* and

Xiaoman She

^*

Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Plants 2025, 14(19), 3086; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14193086

Submission received: 25 August 2025 / Revised: 30 September 2025 / Accepted: 2 October 2025 / Published: 6 October 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Viruses, Viroids and Phytoplasmas: Insight into Evolutionary, Pathogenicity, and Epidemiology Studies—2nd Edition)

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Abstract

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV, Tobamovirus viridimaculae) is a tobamovirus that induces leaf green mottling, mosaic patterns, bleaching, fruit sponginess, rotting, and malformation symptoms in various cucurbit crops. The underlying mechanisms by which CGMMV elicits these symptoms have yet to be elucidated. In the present study, we observed that the infection of CGMMV in bottle gourd, but not in N. benthamiana, led to the significant upregulation of a key gene involved in chlorophyll degradation, Chlorophyllase 1 (CLH1). This induction may be closely linked to chlorophyll degradation, particularly that of chlorophyll a (Clh a) in bottle gourd plants. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the amino acid sequence of BgCLH1 has a closer relationship with those of CLH1 from other cucurbit crops and has a relatively farther relationship with those of the well-studied CLH1 from Arabidopsis thaliana and Citrus sinensis. Further, confocal microscopy analysis indicated that BgCLH1 may be localized to the cytoplasm instead of the chloroplast. Moreover, silencing of the BgCLH1 gene not only reduced viral accumulation but also resulted in an increase in chlorophyll content. Similar results were also observed in watermelon, suggesting that this regulatory mechanism may be conserved across cucurbit crops. Our findings thus reveal a complex and intricate interplay between viral infection and the chlorophyll metabolic pathway.

Keywords: cucumber green mottle mosaic virus; chlorophyllase 1; upregulation; chlorophyll; cucurbit crop

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MDPI and ACS Style

Li, Z.; Tang, Y.; Lan, G.; Yu, L.; Ding, S.; He, Z.; She, X. Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus Decreases Chlorophyll a Content in Cucurbit Crops by Upregulating the Key Gene in Chlorophyll Catabolic Pathway, Chlorophyllase 1. Plants 2025, 14, 3086. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14193086

AMA Style

Li Z, Tang Y, Lan G, Yu L, Ding S, He Z, She X. Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus Decreases Chlorophyll a Content in Cucurbit Crops by Upregulating the Key Gene in Chlorophyll Catabolic Pathway, Chlorophyllase 1. Plants. 2025; 14(19):3086. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14193086

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Zhenggang, Yafei Tang, Guobing Lan, Lin Yu, Shanwen Ding, Zifu He, and Xiaoman She. 2025. "Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus Decreases Chlorophyll a Content in Cucurbit Crops by Upregulating the Key Gene in Chlorophyll Catabolic Pathway, Chlorophyllase 1" Plants 14, no. 19: 3086. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14193086

APA Style

Li, Z., Tang, Y., Lan, G., Yu, L., Ding, S., He, Z., & She, X. (2025). Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus Decreases Chlorophyll a Content in Cucurbit Crops by Upregulating the Key Gene in Chlorophyll Catabolic Pathway, Chlorophyllase 1. Plants, 14(19), 3086. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14193086

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Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus Decreases Chlorophyll a Content in Cucurbit Crops by Upregulating the Key Gene in Chlorophyll Catabolic Pathway, Chlorophyllase 1

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