About half of Japanese isolates of beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV)
were found to contain RNA 5 molecules, which were also detected in virus is
olates from China and France. Sequence comparisons of RNA 5 (nucleotides 32
7 to 1171) in 25 isolates showed that there are up to 8% sequence differenc
es, and that RNA 5 variants fall into three groups: group I contains most o
f the Japanese and Chinese isolates, group II two Japanese isolates, and gr
oup III four French isolates. The group I isolates fall into three small cl
usters. In the 26 kDa coding region of RNA 5, there was a maximum of 1.5% n
ucleotide sequence differences (6 amino acid changes) within the group and
8.4% nucleotide sequence differences (17 amino acid changes) between the gr
oups. Comparisons of the coat protein gene of RNA 2 revealed that most of t
he Japanese and Chinese isolates belonged to the A type strain, but some is
olates were of the B type. The French isolates (P type) were closely relate
d to those of the A type. Mixed infections of the two types of virus and th
e two groups of RNA 5 were detected in a small area of Hokkaido. BNYVV migh
t have been introduced into Japan and China by a similar route from at leas
t two origins. These results, together with other evidence, suggest that th
e three groups of RNA 5 variants separated from an original population a lo
ng time ago and, thereafter, the group I population diverged further into t
hree clusters, which may have been associated with the A type strain rather
than the B type.