Complete cDNA sequence of a South American isolate of potato virus X

The complete cDNA sequence corresponding to the genome RNA of a South American strain of potato virus X (PVXc) is reported. The sequence (6432 nucleotides) contains five open reading frames coding for polypeptides with molecular weights of 165.3, 24.3, 12.3 7.6 and 25.0 and displays an overall homology of 77.4% with those previously reported for two European isolates. Comparison of amino acid sequences shows an average homology of 87%. Two major domains of variability, located between amino acids 476–615 of ORF 1 and 64–100 of ORF 5, are identified. Sequence similarities between RNA stretches lying upstream of ORFs 2, 4 and 5, and at the 3'-non coding regions of PVX and other plus-strand RNA viruses are described.