Characterization of Apple stern grooving virus infecting Actinidia deliciosa (Kiwi) in India

During survey of kiwi plantations (Actinidia deliciosa) in Palampur, Kangra district, state of Himachal Pradesh, India some plants were found to exhibit virus-like symptoms viz., severe interveinal mottling, severe leaf distortion, ringspots and chlorosis along the leaf margins. As kiwi is susceptible to infection by Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV), leaf samples from symptomatic plants were subjected to virus indexing by DAS ELISA and nucleic acid spot hybridization (NASH). Six out of 15 samples were found positive. Three of the positive samples (06) were subjected to further analysis by RT-PCR so as to amplify and characterize CP gene of the virus. Sequencing of the amplicons confirmed presence of the virus. The three isolates from kiwi plants, namely Ki-1, Ki-2 and Ki-3, shared 94-99% sequence identity (at amino acid level) among themselves. This paper presents coat protein sequence information from three isolates of the virus. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of ASGV infection in Kiwi from India and its variability analysis data is being presented. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.