PEAR BLISTER CANKER VIROID IS A MEMBER OF THE APPLE SCAR SKIN SUBGROUP (APSCAVIROIDS) AND ALSO HAS SEQUENCE HOMOLOGY WITH VIROIDS FROM OTHER SUBGROUPS

The sequence of pear blister canker viroid (PBCVd), the putative causal agent of pear blister canker (PBC) disease, has been determined. PBCVd consists of a single-stranded circular RNA of 315 nucleotide residues which assumes a branched conformation when it is folded in the model of lowest free energy. PBCVd has highest sequence similarity with grapevine IB viroid (52.4 %), but also contains sequences related to regions present in viroids that belong to different subgroups, suggesting that PBCVd could have developed from RNA recombination between viroids replicating in a common host plant. PBCVd contains almost the entire central sequence which is conserved in the members of the apple scar skin subgroup (apscaviroids) as well as a conserved sequence located in the left-terminal region of apscaviroids and pospiviroids (whose type member is potato spindle tuber viroid). A consensus phylogenetic tree has been obtained in which PBCVd and other viroids previously classified as apscaviroids appear closely related, allowing consideration of PBCVd as a new member of this subgroup.