Genetic diversity in tobacco mild green mosaic tobamovirus infecting the wild plant Nicotiana glauca

The variability and genetic structure of tobacco mild green mosaic tobamovirus (TMGMV) was analyzed in a collection of isolates from Nicotiana glauca plants from Australia, California, Spain, and the east Mediterranean Basin. Ribonuclease protection was assayed on 53 isolates with six probes representing 85% of the TMGMV genome. Results showed that conserved domains in the TMGMV genome were different for each geographic population. The nucleotide sequence of two regions of the TMGMV genome was determined for 33 isolates. Nucleotide diversity values were smaller than those reported for other RNA genomes. For each population, genetic diversity was not related to the size of the area from which the isolates were collected, and was particularly small for Australia and Spain. Diversity values indicated population differentiation, which was largest between the less diverse Spanish and Australian populations. Nucleotide diversity values for nonsynonymous vs synonymous positions indicate moderate negative selection, except for the Spanish population for which it gave evidence of positive selection. On the whole, our data indicate that the low genetic diversity for this plant virus may he due to different factors such as positive and negative selection or the recent colonization of new areas or host plants. The intensity of these factors appears to be different for the various TMGMV geographical populations. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.