Characteristics of Potato virus Y isolated from paprika in Korea

A virus isolate collected from infected paprika (Capsicum annuum var. grossum) was characterized as Potato virus Y (PVY) based on biological, serological, cytopathological, and molecular properties. In host range studies, the paprika isolate produced the mosaic symptom on some tobacco, tomato and pepper (Capsicum annuum). A new paprika isolate also infected potato cultivars which is different biological characteristic compared to the other popular potyvirus infecting paprika, Pepper mottle virus (PepMoV). Previously reported PVY strains, PVY° and PVY^N did not infect pepper and typical PepMoV isolates did not infect potato. Distinctive inclusion patterns of the scroll, pinwheel, long laminated inclusions, and helper components in the cytoplasm of infected cells were also different to those observed by the typical PVY isolate infections. However, the paprika isolate reacted to the monoclonal antibody of PVY^N strain with high absorbance readings. RT-PCR amplification, cloning, and sequencing of the 3' untranslated region and a part of coat protein gene also added additional evidence of the paprika isolate as the PVY^N-related isolate. Multiple alignments as well as cluster dendrograms of PVY-paprika isolate revealed close phylogenetic relationship to the PVY^N subgroup. Altogether, these results suggest that a new PVY isolate infecting paprika contained distinct characteristics compared to the other previously described PVY strains with closer relationship to the PVY^N strain.