Zucchini tigré mosaic virus is a distinct potyvirus in the papaya ringspot virus cluster: molecular and biological insights.

In recent years, three new potyviruses have been described in the papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) cluster. In addition, two types of PRSV are recognized, type W, infecting cucurbit plants, and type P, infecting papaya and also cucurbits. A third type, PRSV-T, was also partially described in Guadeloupe. Complete genome sequencing of four PRSV-T isolates showed that this virus is a related virus that is distinct from PRSV, and the name zucchini tigré mosaic virus (ZTMV) is proposed, in reference to the typical symptoms observed in zucchini squash. Eleven other viral isolates from different geographic origins were confirmed as ZTMV isolates using the complete sequence of the cylindrical inclusion (CI) coding region, whereas pairwise sequence similarities in the coat protein (CP) coding region did not unambiguously distinguish ZTMV isolates from PRSV isolates. The use of the CI coding region for species demarcation appears more suitable than the CP coding region for closely related viruses. Principal coordinates analysis based on the biological behavior of the viral isolates studied clustered PRSV-P, PRSV-W and ZTMV isolates into three different groups. Therefore, ZTMV is different from PRSV in its molecular and biological properties.