Molecular Genetic Characterization of Sweet potato virus G (SPVG) Isolates from Areas of the Pacific Ocean and Southern Africa.

Sweet potato virus G (SPVG, genus Potyvirus, family Potyviridae) was detected in sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) storage roots sold in the local markets and storage roots or cuttings sampled directly from farmers' fields. Using serological and molecular methods, the virus was detected for the first time in Java, New Zealand, Hawaii, Tahiti, Tubuai, Easter Island, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, and also in an imported storage root under post-entry quarantine conditions in Western Australia. In some specimens, SPVG was detected in mixed infection with Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (genus Potyvirus). The coat protein (CP) encoding sequences of SPVG were analyzed for 11 plants from each of the aforementioned locations and compared with the CP sequences of 12 previously characterized isolates from China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Spain, Peru, and the continental United States. The nucleotide sequence identities of all SPVG isolates ranged from 79 to 100%, and amino acid identities ranged from 89 to 100%. Isolates of the same strain of SPVG had nucleotide and amino acid sequence identities from 97 to 100% and 96 to 100%, respectively, and were found in sweetpotatoes from all countries sampled except Peru. Furthermore, a plant from Zimbabwe was co-infected with two clearly different SPVG isolates of this strain. In contrast, three previously characterized isolates from China and Peru were phylogenetically distinct and exhibited <90% nucleotide identity with any other isolate. So far, the highest genetic diversity of SPVG seems to occur among isolates in China. Distribution of SPVG within many sweetpotato growing areas of the world emphasizes the need to determine the economic importance of SPVG.