Sequence Analysis of the Coat Protein Gene of Citrus Tristeza Virus Isolated form Cheju Island

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is the causal agent of one of the most important diseases of citrus. Recently, CTV has been detected in Cheju Island by ELISA. The coat protein (CP) gene of CTV isolated form Cheju Island was cloned by RT-PCR and the nucleotide was analyzed in this study. Citrus leaves were collected from trees showing decline symptoms from various region of Cheju Island in the summer of 1998 and 1999. The CP gene open reading frame is composed of 670 nucleotides and encodes a polypeptide of 223 amono acids. Sequence analysis the CP gene revealed that two CTV strains present in Cheju Island. Viruses collected form Sogwipo area and Cheju City area in 1999 ahowed 91-93% nucleotide sequence homology with CTV T36 strain. Viruses collected form Cheju City area in 1999 and Sogwipo City in 1998 showed 94-98% nucleotide sequence homology with CTV SY568 strain. A efficient viral RNA extraction methods was developed by modifying procedure for animal virus RNA purification methods and PCR product was detected form one tenth of RNA purified from as small as 45 mg fresh or frozen tissue.