Pathogenicity of a Korean isolate of Pepper mild mottle virus and development of full-length cDNA clone for infectious in vitro transcripts

A Korean isolate of Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV-Kr) was isolated from a diseased pepper crop in Chunchon, Korea. The isolate was biologically purified on Nicoticaa tabacum cv. Xanthi-nc by successive single local transfer steps, and propagated on N. tabacum cv. Samsun. PMMoV-Kr could systemically infect on N. glauca, N. benthmiana, N. occidentalis and Lycopersicon esculentum, which is typical of known isolates of PMMoV. PMMoV-Kr belongs to the pathotype P1,2 based on pepper-tobamoviral indicator experiments; Capsicn chinone harboring L3 gene revealed resistant (necrotic local lesion on inoculated leaf, HR) whereas L+, L1 and L2 pepper plants expressed susceptible reactions of mosaic systemic symptoms for the isolate. To confirm the pathology and delineate symptom determinant of the isolate, full-length cDNAs of PMMoV-Kr were amplified by RT-PCR with a primer set corresponding to the 5'- and 3'-ends of PMMoV. The RT-PCR molecules amplified from genome RNA of the isolate was cloned into the pUC18 vector. Full-length cDNA clones constructed under the control of the T7 RNA promoter could be successfully transcribed to produce in vitro transcript RNA. Infectivity of the capped transcripts and its progeny virus was verified by Western blot and RT-PCR analyses.