Archives of Virology (1998) 143, 1757-1772

Y. Martinez Zubiaur, C. de Blas, M. Quiñones, C. Castellanos, E.L. Peralta and J. Romero (1998)
Havana tomato virus, a new bipartite geminivirus infecting tomatoes in Cuba
Archives of Virology 143 (9), 1757-1772
Abstract: The cloning and nucleotide sequence of a new bipartite geminivirus found in Cuba is described. DNA A (2620 nt) and DNA B (2586 nt) presented a genomic structure resembling that of other geminiviruses transmitted by Bemisia tabaci. Both components had a common region of 168 nt with a 95% identity. Typical elements involved in replication and transcription were found in this region, though group-characteristic arrangement of iterons was not conserved in this virus. Sequence was compared with geminivirus sequences deposited in the GenBank. Interestingly, when total DNAs or individual ORFs and deduced amino acid sequences were compared, the highest scores were for different viruses. It showed to be most closely related to tomato mottle virus (81.9% and 65.5% similarity with DNAs A and B, respectively) and a member of the abutilon mosaic cluster of New World Begomoviruses. When clones A and B were co-agroinoculated they resulted highly infectious and induced symptoms in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. The A component alone was infectious but induced only mild symptoms, while the B component was not infectious. The presence of viral DNA in N. benthamiana plants was confirmed by dot-blot hybridization using specific probes. These data show that the Cuban isolate is a new geminivirus for which the name of Havana tomato virus is proposed.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Javier Romero, Yamila Martinez Zubiaur

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes
identification/taxonomy

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Tomato mosaic Havana virus	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)	Cuba