Molecular Variability and Genetic Structure of IYMV in Burkina Faso

Imperata yellow mottle virus (IYMV,Sobemovirus) was first described in 2008 in the south-western region of BurkinaFaso (West Africa). The genetic diversity of IYMV was not documented up to day.In this study, the variability of CP of IYMV was evaluated through themolecular characterization of 38 isolates collected in the western part ofBurkina Faso. Comparison of sequences of these new isolates and one IYMVsequence available in GenBank revealed that the average nucleotide diversitywas low. The ratio of non-synonymous over synonymous nucleotide substitutionsper site was low, indicating a CP diversification under strong purifyingselection. Despite of the low nucleotide diversity, phylogenetic analysesrevealed segregation of IYMV isolates intosix major clades. There was no correlation of phylogenetic grouping of isolates based on geographical location. This is the firststudy of the genetic diversity of IYMV.