FIRST REPORT OF GRAPEVINE PINOT GRIS VIRUS IN COMMERCIAL GRAPEVINES IN SOUTHERN CHINA

Grapevine Pinot gris virus (GPGV) was first discovered on ′Pinot gris′ grape showing chlorotic mottling and leaf deformation symptoms in Italy (Giampetruzzi et al., 2012). Recently, GPGV was detected in grapevine in northern China (Fan et al., 2016). However, occurrence of the GPGV in southern China was unknown. In a survey performed in early 2014, leaves with chlorotic mottling and deformation symptoms were observed on ′Shine Muscat′ grapes in three southern Chinese provinces, and a total of 24 symptomatic leaf samples were subsequently collected in 2014 and 2015 from Hainan (5 samples), Guangxi (11 samples) and Guangdong (8 samples). Additionally, twenty nine leaf samples were also collected from asymptomatic ′Shine Muscat′ plants in Guangxi. Total RNA of each sample was extracted and amplified by a two-step RT-PCR with primer pair GPgV5619f/GPgV6668r (Giampetruzzi et al., 2012) targeting the movement protein gene. RNA extracted from virus-free ′Shine Muscat′ plants was used as negative control, while no positive control was used. Finally, a specific 1049 bp amplicon was obtained from 14 samples, 1 of which was from Hainan, 9 from Guangxi, and 4 from Guangdong. One of the amplicons was purified, cloned and sequenced (3 colonies), and a 1049 bp consensus sequence was obtained (KU987455). BLASTn analysis showed that this 1049 bp sequence shared the highest identity, 96.7%, with GPGV isolate BC-1 from Canada (KU194413). Furthermore, presence of GPGV in the 14 positive samples were confirmed by an additional two-step RT-PCR with primer pair GPGVCP1A/GPGVCP1B (Fan et al., 2016) targeting coat protein gene of GPGV. To our knowledge, this is the first report of GPGV in commercial grapevine in southern China.