THE IDENTIFICATION, CLONING, AND SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS OF THE COAT PROTEIN-CODING REGION OF A BIRCH ISOLATE [I(2)] OF CHERRY LEAF ROLL NEPOVIRUS

The coat protein gene of RNA-2 of cherry leaf roll nepovirus (CLRV) bi rch isolate I2 was cloned, identified, and sequenced. Transcripts deri ved from cDNA to the coat protein gene made a polypeptide of M(r) 51.5 k when translated in vitro. The predicted amino acid sequence of the coat protein showed little identity with nepoviruses having small RNA- 2s. It did, however, have 27% sequence identity with the coat protein of tomato ringspot nepovirus which, like CLRV, has a relatively large RNA-2.