Characterization of a new potyvirus infecting pepper crops in Ecuador

Sequencing 2,951 nucleotides of the 3' proximal region of the genome of a potyvirus isolate collected from Capsicum pubescens (rocoto) pepper in Ecuador revealed that this was the first representative of a new species tentatively named Ecuadorian rocoto virus (ERV). Phylogeny reconstruction showed that this isolate clustered with potato virus V (PVV), Peru tomato virus and wild potato mosaic virus into a monophyletic group, and was closest to PVV. The isolate was shown to be infectious in tobacco, tomato and, contrary to PVV, in pepper. The pvr2(1), pvr2(2), and Pvr4 genes present in many pepper cultivars conferred resistance toward this isolate and could help control ERV.