|
To understand the molecular structure and pathogenesis mechanism of Korean garlic viruses, we have isolated cDNA clones for garlic viruses. The partial nucleotide sequences of 24 cDNA clones were determined and those of five clones containing poly(A) tail were compared with sequences of other plant viruses. One of these clones, V9, has a primary structure similar to the carlavirus group, suggesting that the clone V9 derived from a part of garlic latent virus (GLV). Northern blot analysis with the clone V9 as a probe demonstrated that GLV genome is 8.5 knt long and has a poly(A) tail. The clone V9 encodes coat protein (CP) of 33 kDa and nucleic acid binding protein of 10 kDa in different reading frame. The hexanucleotide motif, 5´-ACCUAA, which is conserved in the 3´ noncoding region arid was proposed to be a cis-acting element involved in the production of negative strand genomic RNA was noticed. Complementary sequence to the hexanucleotide motif, 5´-TTAGGT, is also found in the positive strand of V9 RNA. The putative CP gene was cloned into the pRSET-A expression vector and expressed in E. coli BL21. The expressed recombinant V9CP protein was purified by Ni^(2+)·NTA affinity chromatography. The anti-V9CP antibody recognizes 34 kDa polypeptide which could be CP of GLV in infected garlic leaf extract. Immunoblot and Northern blot analysis of various cultivars shows wide occurrence of GLV in Korean garlic plants.
|