Use of the polymerase chain reaction for molecular analysis of Potato Leafroll Virus isolates in Tehran, Iran

摘要

Potato Leafroll Virus (PLRV) belongs to the genus Polerovirus and the family Luteoviride, a group of phloem limited, small isometric (23-25 nm diameter) plant viruses. Serological (TAS-ELISA) and molecular (IC-RT-PCR) tests were used to detect PLRV in221 potato samples collected from different areas of Tehran province. Specific primers were used to detect PLRV in potato plants and PLRV-infected green peach aphids Myzus persicae sulzer. The viral sequence encoding a portion of the coat protein gene (336 nt) was specifically amplified by RT-PCR in infected plants and aphids. One PCR product from plants and another from aphids were sent to MWG, Germany for sequencing to allow molecular characterization of the PLRV isolates in Tehran. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence comparisons of the CP gene of these isolates showed high sequence identity with other PLRV isolate sequences obtained from GenBank. We found that the Iranian isolate is strongly related (98-100%) to all the available strains in the database, supporting the idea that this part of the CP gene is a highly conserved sequence within the PLRV genome.