Taxonomy of Wisteria vein mosaic virus and extensions to its host range and geographical distribution

Abstract

Wisteria mosaic, a serious disease of Wisteria spp. in horticultural production in many parts of the world, is caused by a virus, Wisteria vein mosaic virus (WVMV). This paper reports the presence of the virus in a new host, Wisteria venusta, and a new geographical distribution, New South Wales, Australia. A partial sequence (1329 nucleotides) of this isolate of WVMV was obtained, which represents the first available sequence data for the virus. Alignment of the nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences with those of members of the Potyviridae showed closest identity with viruses of the Potyvirus genus. The predicted amino acid sequence has one open reading frame, open at the 5′ end, corresponding to part of the nuclear inclusion b protein and the capsid protein, followed by a 251-nucleotide untranslated region and a polyadenylated tail at the 3′ end.