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The sequences of the coat protein gene of a representative sample of 40 isolates of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) from 11 African countries were analysed. The overall level of nucleotide diversity was high ( ,14 %). Great geographical distances between the sites where isolates were collected were consistently associated with high genetic distances. In contrast, a wide range of genetic distances occurred among isolates spread over short geographical distances. There was no evidence of long-range dispersal. RYMV diversity in relation to land area was eight times greater in East Africa than in West/Central Africa. West/Central African isolates with up to 9 % divergence belonged to a monophyletic group, whereas the East African isolates with up to 13 % divergence fell into distantly related groups. In East Africa, each Tanzanian strain had a specific and restricted geographical range, whereas West/Central African strains had large and partially overlapping geographical distributions. Overall, our results suggest an earlier RYMV diversification in East Africa and a later radiation in West/Central Africa. The West African situation was consistent with virus adaptation to savanna, forest and other ecological conditions. In contrast East Africa, as exemplified by the Tanzanian situation, with numerous physical barriers (mountain chains, sea channel, lakes), suggested that RYMV strains resulted from divergence under isolated conditions. For RYMV and for two other viruses, phylogenetic relationships were established between isolates from Madagascar and isolates from the Lake Victoria region.

The coat protein gene (ORF4) and the 3' untranslated region of a sample of 40 isolates of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV), 32 from West Africa and 8 from East Africa, have been sequenced. Five major strains were differentiated, three from West Africa (S1, S2, S3) and two from East Africa (S4, S5), with a spatial overlap of the strains within each of these two regions. Nucleotide and amino-acid divergence between strains was up to 11%. Although more isolates from West African were sequenced, variability was twofold lower than among East African isolates. Variability in ORF4 and in ORF2 coincided. Within strain and within isolate variations in nucleotide sequences were low. Bipartite nuclear targeting motif, Ca2+ binding sites and at least two stretches of amino-acids were conserved among the 40 RYMV isolates and the other sobemoviruses. Variants associating sequence motifs characteristic of different strains have been found, possibly resulting from recombination events. Differences in pathogenicity among isolates were associated with changes of amino-acids in the bipartite nuclear targeting motif of the R domain of the capsid protein, and around conserved positions 151-154 of the S domain. We hypothesise that the observed pattern of variation of RYMV reflects the effect of spatial isolation between East and West Africa coupled with adaptive changes associated to the original virus reservoirs of the different strains.

In Côte d'Ivoire, the S2 strain of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) predominated in the forested zones, including the “rice belt” to the west, in each of the cropping systems where rice was grown. The S1 strain occurred more frequently in the northern Guinean savanna, and only S1 isolates were found further north in the Sahelo-Soudanian zones. In mixed infection, S2 dominated over S1 both in viral capsid and RNA contents under temperature regimes encompassing those observed in savanna and forested zones of Côte d'Ivoire. There was no evidence of interactions in virus accumulation between the West African strains S1 or S2 with the more distantly related East African strain S4. Field trials emphasized the impact of RYMV, which induced yield losses of 40 to 60% in several widely grown cultivars of Oryza sativa indica and O. sativa japonica. We report the high resistance of the O. indica cv. Gigante under field conditions which was apparent with all the S1 and S2 isolates tested. Responses to RYMV infection of several cultivars were isolate dependent. With most differential cultivars, responses were not strain specific, with the exception of the O. japonica cv. Idsa6, in which the S2 isolates always induced higher yield losses than the S1 isolates.

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