Complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of a Chinese isolate of Tobacco vein distorting virus

Tobacco bushy top disease is caused by tobacco bushy top virus (TBTV, a member of the genus Umbravirus) which is dependent on tobacco vein-distorting virus (TVDV) to act as a helper virus encapsidating TBTV and enabling its transmission by aphids. Isometric virions from diseased tobacco plants were purified and disease symptoms were reproduced after experimental aphid transmission. The complete genome of TVDV was determined from cloned RT-PCR products derived from viral RNA. It was 5,920 nucleotides (nts) long and had the six major open reading frames (ORFs) typical of a member of the genus Polerovirus. Sequence comparisons showed that it differed significantly from any of the other species in the genus and this was confirmed by phylogenetic analyses of the RdRp and coat protein. SDS-PAGE analysis of purified virions gave two protein bands of about 26 and 59 kDa both of which reacted strongly in Western blots with antiserum produced to prokaryotically expressed TVDV CP showing that the two forms of the TVDV CP were the only protein components of the capsid.