Characterisation of a strain of Potato virus Y causing eggplant mosaic in southern Iran

Abstract

Mosaic disease of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) iscommonin many fields of southern Iran.Avirus isolated from diseased plants in the Boushehr Province was characterised by biological, serological, physiochemical and molecular studies. The virus was mechanically transmissible to Nicotiana tabacum cv. Turkish and several other solanaceous species and to Chenopodium amaranticolor and C. quinoa. Purified preparations of the virus contained flexuous rod-shaped particles. Two aphid species, Myzus persicae and Aphis gossypii, transmitted the virus between Turkish tobacco plants. An antiserum raised against purified virus preparation was used in the detection of the virus. Molecular weights of the virus genome and the coat protein (CP) were estimated at 3.1–3.2×106 and 36×103 Da, respectively. The 3′ region of the virus genome, including the CP and the untranslated region (UTR), was amplified using two pairs of general primers of the family Potyviridae. Sequence information identified the virus as a strain of Potato virus Y (PVY), designated eggplant strain of PVY (PVY-Eg), with the highest sequence homology to a tomato strain of PVY (PVY-LY84.2) from Spain, and a somewhat lower homology to an Indian isolate of Eggplant mottle virus belonging to the PVYO subgroup. Cluster dendrograms based on CP amino acid and 3′UTR sequences placed PVY-Eg within the PVYNP subgroup. This is the first report on the characterisation of a PVYNP strain infecting eggplant in Iran.