Complete nucleotide sequence of the genomic RNA of a mild strain of Japanese yam mosaic potyvirus.

We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a mild strain of Japanese yam mosaic potyvirus (JYMV-M) and compared it with the published sequence of severe strain of JYMV (JYMV-J1). The genomic RNA of JYMV-M is 9,760 nucleotides (nts) in length, excluding the poly (A) tail, and encodes a polyprotein of 3,132 amino acids. Among nine potential cleavage sites, only the P1 and NIa recognition sites (between 6K1 and CI) had different sequences from those of JYMV-J1. The data confirm the strain status of these two viruses with 91.1% sequence identity for the polyprotein and approximately 94-97% identities for HC, CI, NIa, NIb and CP. The most divergent products P1 and P3 had 62% and 90% sequence identities respectively.