ARE PRDV AND PVP THE SAME POTATO VIRUS?

MASSA G, COLAVITA M Y FEINGOLD S.

San Diego, California. EEUU

Conferencia; Plant & Animal Genome XII Conference (PAG XII); 2004

Free trade of biological products is often hampered by phytosanitary issues and quarantine requirements. Viruses are one of the main concerns when exporting or importing potato seed. Potato Rough Dwarf Virus (PRDV, Carlaviridae) was originally described in Argentina by Butzonitch, et al. (1996). Simultaneously, a Potato Virus P (PVP) had been reported in Brazil (Daniels, et al., 1993) and also catalogued as a Carlavirus (Jeffries, 1998). Immunological evidences indicate a high degree of similarity between PRDV and PVP (Butzonitch, et al, 1996); however both viruses were never compared side by side in experiments involving differential hosts. With the objective of determining if PRDV and PVP are the same pathogen described independently in Brazil and Argentina, a greenhouse experiment was done involving the infection on 21 differential host plants with both viruses separately. Infections we recorded by visual symptoms and by means of DAS-ELISA tests with anti-PVP and anti-PRDV. At the same time we have amplified part of the viral coat protein (cp) gene from both viruses by using specific left primers and a polyT. PCR products were cloned, sequenced and compared. Biological results show both viruses infecting the same group of indicator plants with non significative symptom differences. Sequence comparison showed little or no difference between cp from both viruses; however, more research is being carried to determine sequence homologies in less conserved regions of the genome. Unveil of the real relationship between PRDV and PVP will impact directly in potato seed trade between both countries.