Petunia vein banding virus: Characterization of a New Tymovirus from Petunia x hybrida

Petunia plants from a nursery in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, sh owed pronounced vein banding and contained isometric particles with diamete rs of approximately 45 and 30 nm. The larger ones apparently represent a ca ulimovirus, while the smaller ones, which included both empty shells and fu ll particles, were identified as those of a new tymovirus for which we prop ose the name Petunia vein banding virus (PetVBV). Originally, PetVBV was tr ansmitted only with difficulty to healthy petunia plants. However, from an experimentally infected petunia, it was later readily transmitted also to N icotiana benthamiana and Nicandra physalodes, but not to other species in t he Solanaceae or other plant families. It produces cytopathic effects typic al for tymovirus infections. Its coat protein shows approximately 65% amino acid sequence identity with those of Eggplant mosaic and Andean potato lat ent viruses, to which it is also serologically more closely related than to any other tymoviruses.