Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

A strain of Dasheen mosaic virus (DsMV) from Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Elephant foot yam) plants showing leaf mosaic, puckering and shoestringing was characterized by RT-PCR and amplification of a 1.2 kbp fragment encoding the coat protein (CP) gene and the 3’ untranslated region (UTR). BLAST analysis of the cloned DNA amplicon of DsMV-Amp1 revealed at least 80% nucleotide sequence identity with other DsMV isolates from different hosts and geographic origins. The CP gene and the 3’ UTR of DsMV-Amp1 consisted of 942 and 260 nucleotides, respectively. The highest nucleotide sequence identity (89%) was with DsMV-ch from Caladium from the USA, and the deduced CP amino acid sequence had 92-98% identity with other DsMV isolates. Nucleotide sequence identity of 82-85% was also found with Vanilla mosaic virus (VMoV), whereas the identity with Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV), Hardenbergia mosaic virus (HaMV) and Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) ranged from 74 to 79%. Several potential threonine- and asparagine-rich N-glycosylation motifs and a DVG motif potentially involved in aphid transmission were found in the CP of DsMVAmp1. This is the first characterization of DsMV from A. paeoniifolius plants in India.