Glycine mottle virus, a possible member of the tombusvirus group

Glycine mottle virus ( GMeV ) was isolated from Glycine tomentella and has a restricted distribution in north Queensland. It has a very narrow experimental host range, systemically infecting several Glycine spp., but not G. max (soybean). Local infection occurred in soybean and several other legumes, but none of six species of non-legumes became infected. GMeV is extremely stable and can be purified in high concentration from G. soja . Based on the following properties it is classified as a possible new member of the tombusvirus group: isometric virions with a diameter of 30 nm (25 nm in cell section) which sediment as a single component with S20,w = 138; single, major polypeptide of molecular weight 39,000; approximately equal to 20% RNA consisting of a single component of molecular weight 1.5 X 10(6); a high concentration of virions in the cytoplasm and nuclei of infected cells, especially in cytoplasmic extrusions into the vacuole; and the presence of vesicles in peroxisomes and chloroplasts in infected cells. GMeV differs from most tombusviruses in its extremely narrow host range, and its virions showed no serological relationship to those of known members of the tombusvirus group, nor those of any other isometric virus tested.