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Identification and Characterization of Banana Bract Mosaic Virus in India

June 1997 , Volume 81 , Number  6
Pages  669 - 672

B. C. Rodoni , Centre for Molecular Biotechnology, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Australia, 4001 ; Y. S. Ahlawat and A. Varma , Division of Plant Pathology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012, India ; and J. L. Dale and R. M. Harding , Centre for Molecular Biotechnology, QUT, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Australia, 4001



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Accepted for publication 7 March 1997.
ABSTRACT

We have identified banana bract mosaic potyvirus (BBMV) in banana plants growing in the Coimbatore and Tiruchchirappalli regions of southern India based on symptomatology, particle morphology, sequence homology, and nucleic acid hybridization assays. Potyvirus-like particles typical of BBMV also were detected in sap dips from banana plants growing in Maharashtra State. Sequence comparisons of the C terminus of the coat protein-coding and 3′ untranslated regions revealed that the Indian isolates of BBMV had greater than 96.6 and 97.2% homology with a Philippines isolate at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively. BBMV-infected banana cultivars from the Coimbatore region showed the characteristic mosaic on the bract of the banana inflorescence. In contrast, infected plants growing in the Tiruchchirappalli region and Maharashtra State displayed symptoms similar to those associated with cucumber mosaic cucumovirus and not the characteristic bract mosaic symptom. These results indicate that BBMV is more widespread than previously thought.



© 1997 The American Phytopathological Society