Analysis of Sequence Polymorphism and Population Structure of <em>Tomato chlorotic dwarf viroid</em> and <em>Potato spindle tuber viroid </em>in Viroid-Infected Tomato Plants

• Main Author: Xianzhou Nie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2012-06-01
• Series: Viruses
• Subjects: TCDVd; PSTVd; sequence variants; polymorphism; population
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/4/6/940

The sequence polymorphism and population structure of <em>Tomato chlorotic dwarf viroid</em> (TCDVd) (isolate Trust) and <em>Potato tuber spindle viroid</em> (PSTVd) (isolate FN) in tomato plants were investigated. Of the 9 and 35 TCDVd clones sequenced from 2 different TCDVd-infected plants, 2 and 4 sequence variants were identified, respectively, leading to a total of 4 sequence variants of 360 nucleotides in length. Variant I was identical to AF162131, the first TCDVd sequence to be reported, and the rest exhibited 1 to 3 nucleotide differences, all in the T<sub>R</sub> domain, from AF162131/variant I. Of the 33 and 29 PSTVd clones sequenced from 2 different PSTVd-infected plants, 8 and 9 sequence variants were found, respectively, leading to a total of 15 variants ranging in length from 356 to 359 nucleotides. The variant I was identical to EF044303, a PSTVd reported in Russia. The rest exhibited 1 to 11 nucleotide differences scattering in all five domains from EF044303/variant I. The results demonstrated for the first time that TCDVd, like many other viroids including PSTVd, exists in host plants as a collective group comprised of various sequence variants. However, in comparison to PSTVd, TCDVd is less polymorphic in tomato plants as fewer variants and lower haplotype/nucleotide diversities were observed.