Nucleotide sequence and proposed secondary structure of Columnea latent viroid: a natural mosaic of viroid sequences

• Published in: Nucleic acids research 1989-12, Vol.17 (23), p.10083-10094
• Main Authors: HAMMOND, R, SMITH, D. R, DIENER, T. O
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Base Composition; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Cloning, Molecular - methods; Columnea; Columnea latent viroid; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Viral; Genes. Genome; Lycopersicon esculentum; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Oligonucleotide Probes; Plant Viruses - genetics; Plant Viruses - isolation & purification; Potato spindle tuber viroid; Restriction Mapping; RNA, Viral - genetics; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Solanum tuberosum; Viroids - genetics; Viroids - isolation & purification
• ISSN: 0305-1048; 1362-4962
• DOI: 10.1093/nar/17.23.10083

The Columnea latent viroid (CLV) occurs latently in certain Columnea erythrophae plants grown commercially. In potato and tomato, CLV causes potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV)-like symptoms. Its nucleotide sequence and proposed secondary structure reveal that CLV consists of a single-stranded circular RNA of 370 nucleotides which can assume a rod-like structure with extensive base-pairing characteristic of all known viroids. The electrophoretic mobility of circular CLV under nondenaturing conditions suggests a potential tertiary structure. CLV contains extensive sequence homologies to the PSTV group of viroids but contains a central conserved region identical to that of hop stunt viroid (HSV). CLV also shares some biological properties with each of the two types of viroids. Most probably, CLV is the result of intracellular RNA recombination between an HSV-type and one or more PSTV-type viroids replicating in the same plant.