Abstract
For this study, 68 plum samples were collected from 12 provinces of China. Low molecular weight RNAs were extracted and used for dot-blot, reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), return–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and biological indexing using cucumber. Results showed that 15 out of the 68 plum samples were positive for Hop stunt viroid (HSVd). Four positive samples were selected for cloning and sequence analysis. Results indicated that most HSVd sequences from the plum in China had 1–3 nucleotide changes from the closest HSVd in GenBank. In addition, the sample PB21 (cv. ‘Friar’) collected from Hebei province had one sequence with a 15-nt duplication (named HSVd D-15) at the 244/245 position in the lower central region. By biological indexing, cucumber seedlings, an indicator plant for HSVd, were inoculated with RNAs directly extracted from the original plum source (PB21, cv. ‘Friar’). Nucleotide sequencing analysis of the progeny showed that HSVd, but not HSVd-D15, was recovered from inoculated cucumbers. Although very unlikely, the possibility that this extra sequence was the result of a PCR artifact cannot be completely ruled out.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by grants from the National Basic Research and Development Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2006CB100203), Beijing Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 6072022), National Science Foundation of China (30771403), and Opening Project of State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. We thank Prof. Jia Kegong and Miss Guo Shufang at the Fruit Science Experimental Station of China Agricultural University in Linzhang County in Hebei province, for their kindly help in collecting plum samples, and Prof. Teruo Sano at Hirosaki University of Japan for his valuable comments and the critical reading of this manuscript.
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Yang, YA., Wang, HQ., Wu, ZJ. et al. Molecular Variability of Hop stunt viroid: Identification of a Unique Variant with a Tandem 15-nucleotide Repeat from Naturally Infected Plum Tree. Biochem Genet 46, 113–123 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-007-9134-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-007-9134-6