title: Genome typing of southern African subgroup 1 geminiviruses.
abstract: The relatedness of subgroup 1 geminiviruses from a variety of naturally infected southern African graminaceous hosts was compared by DNA cross-hybridization, restriction endonuclease mapping and partial sequencing. Cross-hybridization divided the viruses into three groups: those closely related to maize streak virus (MSVs), and separate groups comprising a Panicum sp. virus (PanSV) and two sugarcane viruses (SSVs). Restriction mapping and comparisons, and phylogeny reconstructions from map data, showed that mapped and sequenced maize viruses were all highly similar; that two viruses of grasses and wheat bore limited resemblance to each other and to MSV, and that a mapped local and a sequenced Kenyan PanSV were similar, but that these and the two SSVs were dissimilar to each other and to all other subgroup 1 geminiviruses. The conclusions were: that maize viruses and the two viruses of wheat and grasses are probably strains of MSV; that two SSVs are only distantly related and distinct from MSVs; that the PanSVs are closely related to one another, but also distinct from other viruses; that all of the viruses in this study are part of a 'MSV-related sub-subgroup' of geminiviruses. Partial sequencing of cloned genomes reinforced conclusions drawn from other data, and indicated a definite relationship between the mapped and sequenced Panicum viruses. The implications of the results for taxonomic and epidemiological purposes are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Cape Town, PB Rondebosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Rybicki
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: von Wechmar
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D006109:Poaceae / Q000382:microbiology*; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D013045:Species Specificity; D003313:Zea mays / Q000382:microbiology