Identification of Variants of the High Plains virus Infecting Wheat in Kansas

The properties of two virus isolates (U04-82 and U04-83) obtained from two wheat (Triticum aestivum) plants expressing mosaic symptoms were investigated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS), and infection of wheat with resistance to Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV). The coat protein mass was estimated by SDS-PAGE as approximately 32 kDa for U04-82 and 30 kDa for U04-83. The amino acid sequence of the coat protein of U04-82 was 99.6 and 85.5% identical to two isolates, ABC58222 and TX96, respectively, of High Plains virus (HPV) described from Texas. U04-82 was transmitted by wheat curl mites and caused significant yield reductions in wheat resistant to WSMV. U04-83 was actually two distinct virus isolates whose capsid protein amino acid sequences were only 57 and 50% similar to that of TX96. Antiserum prepared to a synthetic peptide from the sequence of the U04-83 isolate recognized the two U04-83 isolates, but not the U04-82 isolate.