NATURAL INFECTION OF BANANA BY A SATELLITE-CONTAINING STRAIN OF CUCUMBER MOSAIC-VIRUS - NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF THE COAT PROTEIN GENE AND THE SATELLITE RNA

Banana plants expressing mosaic symptoms, from the Jordan Valley in Is rael, were shown to be infected by a satellite-RNA-containing strain o f cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Double-stranded RNA isolated from field -infected banana, without passage through another host, was used as a template for synthesis of cDNA. The cDNAs corresponding to the coat pr otein (CP) gene and to the satellite RNA were cloned after polymerase chain reaction amplification. The nucleotide sequences of the CP and t he satellite cDNAs were determined. The CP gene and its 3' flanking se quence had 98% similarity to the CMV Fny nucleotide sequence and the t wo strains differed in only one amino acid of the CP. The associated s atellite had a sequence similarity ranging from 95% to 85.6% with othe r CMV satellites. Analysis of banana suckers differing in symptoms' se verity indicated a correlation between the presence of satellite and a ttenuation of symptoms.