Diversity in the coding regions for the coat protein, VPg, protease, and putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase among tomato ringspot nepovirus isolates

Abstract

The nucleotide sequence of the coding regions for the genome-linked virion protein (VPg), protease (Pro), putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (Pol), and coat protein (CP) were determined for four tomato ringspot nepovirus isolates and compared with the published sequence of two other isolates. Phylogenetic analysis resulted in grouping of five isolates (from raspberry and peach) in one branch, while a grape isolate with only 80% nucleotide sequence identity to the other isolates was placed in a separate branch. Among the isolates, the deduced amino acid sequence was more conserved than the nucleotide sequence. In particular, the entire VPg sequence and conserved amino acid motifs within the Pro, Pol, and CP domains were identical in all isolates.

Keywords:

• tomato ringspot virus
• isolates
• nucleotide sequence