A New York isolate of Soil-borne wheat mosaic virus differs considerably from the Nebraska type strain in the nucleotide sequences of various coding regions but not in the deduced amino acid sequences

Novel genus-specific broad range primers for the detection of furoviruses, hordeiviruses and rymoviruses and their application in field surveys in South-East Australia

A number of viruses from the genera Furovirus, Hordeivirus and Rymovirus are known to infect and damage the four major temperate cereal crops, wheat, barley, sorghum and oats. Currently, there is no active testing in Australia for any of these viruses, which pose a significant biosecurity threat to the phytosanitary status of Australia's grains industry. To address this, broad spectrum PCR assays were developed to target virus species within the genera Furovirus, Hordeivirus and Rymovirus. Five sets of novel genus-specific primers were designed and tested in reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assays against a range of virus isolates in plant virus diagnostic laboratories in both Australia and New Zealand. Three of these assays were then chosen to screen samples in a three-year survey of cereal crops in western Victoria, Australia. Of the 8900 cereal plants screened in the survey, all were tested free of furoviruses, hordeiviruses and rymoviruses. To date, there were no published genus-specific primers available for the detection of furoviruses, hordeiviruses and rymoviruses. This study shows for the first time a broad-spectrum molecular test being used in a survey for exotic grain viruses in Australia. Results from this survey provide important evidence of the use of this method to demonstrate the absence of these viruses in Victoria, Australia. The primer pairs reported here are expected to detect a wide range of virus species within the three genera.

The complete sequence of tobacco mosaic virus isolate Ohio V reveals a high accumulation of silent mutations in all open reading frames

TMVOhioV was first described 1969 by [1] because it did break resistance of tomato breeding lines containing Tm-1- and Tm-2 resistance genes. It was obtained 1987 from Wetter (Saarbrücken, Germany) and transferred into the DSMZ-Plant Virus Collection (Braunschweig, Germany). A partial sequence of TMVOhioV, the CP gene, has been reported [11] and its comparison with a TMV type isolates (TMVtype), e.g. EMBL: V01409, revealed 50 point mutations in a total of 477 nucleotides (nts) leading to the replacement of only 7 amino acids (aa). In order to investigate the mutations in the non-translated regions and the number of silent mutation in the three other open reading frames (ORF), we sequenced the complete genome of isolate TMVOhioV and compared it to those of other Tobamoviruses.

Broad-spectrum detection and quantitation methods of Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus isolates

A broad-spectrum reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocol was developed for detecting Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus (SBCMV) isolates, responsible for mosaic diseases in Europe, using primers targeting the highly conserved 3'-untranslated region of RNA-1 and RNA-2 of SBCMV. The 3'-end region is a privileged target for the detection of a wide range of isolates, because of sequence conservation, of the tRNA-like structure, the major role in viral replication and the signal amplification due to the presence of numerous genomic and subgenomic RNAs. The primers were also designed for virus quantitation using real-time RT-PCR with SYBR-Green chemistry. No cross-reaction with Wheat spindle streak mosaic virus, frequently associated with SBCMV, was observed. The use of RT-PCR and real-time quantitative RT-PCR allowed a more sensitive detection and quantitation of SBCMV to be made than was the case with ELISA. The methods enabled European isolates of SBCMV from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the UK to be detected and quantified. Real-time RT-PCR represents a new tool for comparing soil inoculum potential as well as cultivar resistance to SBCMV.

Ecology and epidemiology of benyviruses and plasmodiophorid vectors

Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) and Beet soilborne mosaic virus (BSBMV) are members of the genus Benyvirus, and Burdock mottle virus (BdMV) is a tentative member. BNYVV and BSBMV are vectored by the plasmodiophorid Polymyxa betae, which has a worldwide distribution. Polymyxa betae is morphologically indistinguishable from P. graminis, but recent molecular studies support separation of the two species. The geographic distribution of BNYVV is also worldwide, but BSBMV has been identified only in the United States. In Europe and Japan, several genotypic strains of BNYVV have been identified, and those with a fifth RNA appear to be more aggressive. No thorough survey of genotypic variability of BNYVV or BSBMV has been conducted in the United States. However, both viruses are widespread and frequently found in the same field, infecting the same beet plant. The implications of this close proximity, with regard to disease incidence and severity, and for recombination, are uncertain. Recent technological advances that permit improved detection and quantification of these viruses and their vector offer tremendous research opportunities.