Biological and molecular characterization of various isolates of Potato virus Y-N (PVY-N) strain group

Abstract

Fourteen Potato virus Y (PVY) isolates were characterized. They represented PVYN strain only. However, application of serological and molecular genetic methods led to a more complicated characterization. For example, five isolates induced necrotic symptoms on tobacco plants typical of PVYN, despite reacting as PVYO serologically. Moreover, the PVY isolates were not identical according to molecular genetic properties. Typical PVYNTN PCR products were observed for 11 isolates, but four of them (Hr220-5, Hr387-7, Nord 242 and Syn1Scot) did not produce potato tuber necrotic symptoms in infected cultivars. An immunocapture RT-PCR probing was developed using a set of 24 primer pairs derived from eight regions of the PVY genome. Using this method, five out of seven PVYNTN isolates including the Czech standard PVYNTN from the potato cv. Nicola were found to be identical. However, two PVYNTN isolates and all the other probed PVY samples showed unique patterns, suggesting specific differences at the nucleotide level. This method enabled specific identification of individual isolates variability even within different PVY strains.

Keywords

• potato virus y
• solanum tuberosum l
• immunocapture rt-pcr
• virus genome