Brazilian Potato virus Y isolates identified as members of a new clade facilitate the reconstruction of evolutionary traits within this species

Potato virus Y (PVY) is a plant virus distributed worldwide that causes damage to several species of the Solanaceae family. It was established long ago that groups of PVY isolates defined by phylogenetic analyses correlate strongly with those demarcated by differential biological properties. Consequently, life‐history traits of this viral species can be inferred by phylogenetic analysis. In this study, characteristics of PVY isolates sampled in different tobacco fields in Brazil were analysed and most of the tested Brazilian PVY isolates were assigned to the recently described unconventional serogroup Y^U. The analysis of molecular diversity of the coat protein (CP) cistron from some Y^U isolates made it possible (i) to identify specific amino acid residues in the N‐terminal of the CP protein and (ii) to assign some Y^U isolates to a new PVY clade. The symptoms caused by isolates belonging to this new PVY ‘Brazilian’ clade and their ability to infect selected susceptible hosts led to the conclusion that neither veinal necrosis symptoms expressed on infected tobacco plants nor adaptation to potato or pepper hosts are ancestral characteristics of PVY. These observations suggest that PVY has gained a remarkable new biological property and broadened its host range over time.