Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

Leaf samples of Zinnia bicolor plants showing virus-like symptoms such as mosaic and chlorotic rings were collected from Navsari (Gujarat), India. To characterize the presence of viruses, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was carried out with a potyvirus degenerative primer pair (PNIbF1: 5’-GGBAAYAATAGTGGNCAACC-3’ and PCPR1: 5’GGGGAGGTGCCGTCTCDATRCACCA-3’) (Hsu et al., 2005) using total RNA obtained from symptomatic leaves. A single DNA fragment of approximately 1000 nucleotides (nts) covering the 3' end of the NIb gene and the 5' end of the coat protein (CP) gene was amplified. The DNA amplicon was cloned into pGEM-T vector and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence analysis (804 bp) revealed 82% identity with Vanilla distortion mosaic virus (VDMV). From this sequence, a specific VDMV primer pair (GKVDMVF: 5’- GGAAAGCTCCATACATCTCGGAA-3’and GKVDMVR: 5’- CACGAGGTGGAACCTCA CTA-3’) was designed to amplify a 1100 nt RT-PCR product covering the entire CP gene (804 nts), part of the NIb region (143 nts) and part of the 5’ end of the untranslated region (153 nts). The DNA amplicon was cloned, sequenced and submitted to GenBank as accession number KJ013533. Sequence analysis revealed 88% and 94% identity with VDMV from Vanilla planifolia (AY943945) in India at the nucleotide and aminoacid level, respectively. This is the first report of Vanilla distortion mosaic virus in ornamental Zinnia bicolor.