Genetic variability of genome segments 3 and 9 of Fiji disease virus field isolates

• Published in: Archives of virology Vol. 153; no. 5; pp. 839 - 848
• Main Authors: Jiang, Junxi, Ridley, Andrew W, Tang, Herman, Croft, Barry J, Johnson, Karyn N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Vienna : Springer Vienna 01-05-2008; Springer Vienna; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Australia; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Disease; DNA polymerase; DNA, Viral - genetics; Fiji disease virus; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Variation; Genome, Viral; Genomes; Infectious Diseases; Malaysia; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; Original Article; Papua New Guinea; Phylogeny; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Plant Diseases - virology; Plant viruses and viroids; Proteins; Reoviridae - classification; Reoviridae - genetics; Reoviridae - isolation & purification; Reoviridae - pathogenicity; Reovirus; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Viral - genetics; Saccharum - virology; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Sugarcane; Thermal cycling; Virology; Viruses; Australia; Papua New Guinea; Malaysia; Fiji; Queensland Australia; Asia; Genome Segment; Australian Isolate; Insect Vector; Maize Rough Dwarf Virus; Field Isolate; Virus; Genetic variability; Plant pathogen; Fijivirus; Isolate; Genome; Reoviridae; Fiji disease virus
• ISSN: 0304-8608; 1432-8798
• DOI: 10.1007/s00705-008-0058-1

Fiji leaf gall is an important disease of sugarcane in Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries. The causative agent is the reovirus Fiji disease virus (FDV). Previous reports indicate that there is variation in pathology between virus isolates. To investigate the amount of genetic variation found in FDV, 25 field isolates from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia were analysed by partial sequencing of genome segments S3 and S9. There was up to 15% divergence in the nucleotide sequence among the 25 isolates. A similar amount of divergence and pattern of relationships was found for each of the two genomic segments for most of the field isolates, although reassortment of genome segments seems likely for at least one of the Papua New Guinean isolates. The finding of a high level of variation in FDV isolated in different regions has implications for quarantine and disease management.