Molecular analyses of European A, B and P type sources of Beet necrotic yellow vein virus and detection of the rare P type in Kazakhstan

Summary.

 Nucleotide sequence analyses revealed that the genomes of the various European types of Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), i.e. the A, B and P types, are strongly conserved. Almost identical sequences were found, for instance, for A types originating from The Netherlands, Italy and former Yugoslavia; these sequences were also almost identical to those determined c. 15 years ago by Bouzoubaa et al. (1985; 1986 and 1987). This sequence stability of BNYVV types is in contrast to a pronounced sequence variability observed with Beet soil-borne pomovirus, another Polymyxa-transmitted sugar beet virus with rod-shaped particles. Sequences of RNA 1, 2 and 4 of BNYVV sources from Kazakhstan were almost identical to those of the P type of BNYVV which so far had been found only in a small area around the French town of Pithiviers. RNA 5, which in Europe is found also only in the Pithiviers area, was detected in the bait plants grown in two out of three soil samples from different fields in Kazakhstan. It closely resembled RNA 5 from the Pithiviers area, but was very different from RNA 5 from various East Asian BNYVV sources.