title: Characterization of petunia flower mottle virus (PetFMV), a new potyvirus infecting Petunia x hybrida.
abstract: With the introduction of cutting-grown Petunia x hybrida plants on the European market, a new potyvirus which showed no serological reaction with antisera against any other potyviruses infecting petunias was discovered. Infected leaves contained flexuous rod-shaped virus particles of 750-800 nm in length and inclusion bodies (pinwheel structures) typical for potyviruses in ultrathin leaf sections. The purified coat protein with a Mr of approximately 36 kDa could be detected in Western immunoblots with a specific antibody to the coat protein of the petunia-infecting virus. The 3' end of the viral genome encompassing the 3' non-coding region, the coat protein gene, and part of the NIb gene was amplified from infected leaf material by IC/PCR using degenerate and specific primers. Sequences of PCR-generated cDNA clones were compared to other known sequences of potyviruses. Maximum homology of 56% was found in the 3' non-coding region between the petunia isolate and other potyviruses. A maximum homology of 69% was found between the amino acid sequence of the coat protein of the petunia isolate and corresponding sequences of other potyviruses. These data indicate that the petunia-infecting virus is a previously undescribed potyvirus and the name petunia flower mottle virus (PetFMV) is suggested.
authors.affiliation: InnovaPlant GmbH, Gensingen, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Feldhoff
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wetzel
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kellner
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Krczal
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002213:Capsid / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017800:Potyvirus / Q000235:genetics*; D011817:Rabbits; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D019657:Solanaceae / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral