A novel recombinant strain of Potato virus Y suggests a new viral genetic determinant of vein necrosis in tobacco

A novel Potato virus Y (PVY) isolate, L26, recovered from a Frontier potato line was initially typed as a PVYNTN strain using multiplex RT-PCR and serological assays. However, L26 induced mosaic and mild vein clearing symptoms in tobacco rather than vein necrosis characteristic of the PVY NTN strain. The whole genome sequence was determined for L26 and two other PVYNTN isolates, HR1 and N4, from Idaho that did induce vein necrosis in tobacco. The sequence of all three isolates was similar to typical European PVYNTN isolates that contain three recombination junctions in their genome. The sequence of the L26 genome was nearly identical to the genomes HR1, N4, and to a previously characterized PVYNTN isolate, 423-3, differing by only five nucleotides in the entire ca. 9.7-kb genome, only one resulting in a corresponding amino acid change, D-205 to G-205 in the central region of HC-Pro. Two “signature” amino acid residues, thought involved in induction of the vein necrosis syndrome in tobacco, K-400 and E-419, were present in the C-terminal region of HC-Pro of all three isolates. Multiple alignment of the whole genome sequences of L26 and other PVYNTN isolates whose phenotype in tobacco has been reported, suggests that a single nucleotide change (A-1,627 to G-1,627) resulting in the single amino acid change (D-205 to G-205) in the HC-Pro cistron of L26 correlates with the loss of the vein necrosis phenotype in tobacco. Secondary structure modeling of the HC-Pro protein predicts the G-205 residue, and the previously identified residues K-400 and E-419, would all be located on the exposed surface of the protein. Taken together, these data suggest that the vein necrosis genetic determinant of PVY in tobacco is complex and includes other element(s), in addition to the C-terminal fragment of HC-Pro.