NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF THE CARLAVIRUS ASSOCIATED WITH BLUEBERRY SCORCH AND SIMILAR DISEASES

We have synthesized and mapped a library of cDNA clones representing t he RNA genome of a strain of blueberry scorch carlavirus (BBScV) assoc iated with a disease known locally, in New Jersey, U.S.A., as Sheep Pe n Hill disease. The nucleotide sequence of that strain was determined to be 8514 residues, excluding the poly(A) tail. In addition, cDNA clo nes representing the 3' terminus of another strain of the virus from t he same held were synthesized, mapped and sequenced. The overall ident ity between sequences of these two strains was approximately 90% spann ing the 1634 residue overlap, confirming their identity as distinct st rains and not simply different isolates of a single strain. Finally, t he coat protein gene of a distinct strain of the virus, isolated from plants with blueberry scorch disease in the Puyallup Valley in Washing ton State, U.S.A., was cloned from total cDNA by PCR. Sequence analysi s revealed that the strain from Washington was more divergent from the two New Jersey strains than they were from each other. Comparisons of these sequences with other carlavirus sequences indicated that BBScV is more closely related to lily symptomless virus and potato virus S t han to potato virus M, Helenium virus S, carnation latent virus or pop lar mosaic virus. BBScV and potato virus M shared approximately 54 % n ucleotide sequence identity overall.