Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screens were used to test for interactions between the P1 protein of Soybean mosaic virus Pinellia isolate (SMV-P) and a cDNA expression library of its host, the aroid Pinellia ternata. Of the 13 independent interacting clones identified, ten were identical and had an open reading frame predicted to encode a 23.7-kDa protein closely related to the cytochrome b6/f complex Rieske Fe/S genes of plants. The interaction between SMV-P-P1 and the mature Rieske Fe/S protein (without transit peptide) of the host was confirmed by in vitro co-immunoprecipitation of the two proteins. Y2H assays using different parts of the two proteins showed that only the N-terminal part (amino acids 1-82) of SMV-P P1 was responsible for the interaction with the Rieske Fe/S protein and that amino acids 1-33 interacted only with the transit peptide, while amino acids 34-82 could interact with the entire Rieske Fe/S protein. SMV-P P1 also interacted moderately with the Rieske Fe/S protein of its other hosts, soybean and Zantedeschia aethiopica, but weakly with that of the non-host Arabidopsis thaliana. The P1-Rieske Fe/S protein interactions are likely to be involved in symptom development, and the very variable N-terminus of P1 may play an important role in host adaptation.

The '6K1' protein of the Pinellia isolate of Soybean mosaic virus was cloned into a prokaryotic expression vector and a polyclonal antiserum raised to the expressed fusion protein. In immunogold labeling of thin sections of infected leaves of Pinellia ternata, specific labeling occurred at the cell periphery. This might suggest that the potyvirus '6K1' protein plays some role in viral cell-to-cell movement but the lack of transmembrane domains suggests that it does not conform to currently-recognized patterns of viral movement proteins.

Degenerate primers were used to detect and amplify 3'-terminal genome fragments of potyviruses from medicinal aroid plants growing at 16 sites in China. Virus was detected in 7 samples of which six, all of Pinellia ternata, contained a strain of soybean mosaic virus (SMV) similar to that previously reported from this host in China. The complete sequence of one isolate and the P1 protein coding region of the other isolates were also sequenced. In all cases, the P1 proteins resembled isolates of Dasheen mosaic virus (DsMV) more closely than SMV, confirming earlier suggestions of recombination in this region. In a phylogenetic analysis of SMV, DsMV and related sequences, the aroid sequences of SMV formed a distinct group which also included a sequence published as Zantedeschia symptomless virus (AF469171). One of the P. ternata samples was also infected with a second potyvirus, the 3'-terminal sequence of which was similar to DsMV and to some sequences published as Vanilla mosaic virus. The seventh infected sample was Typhonium flagelliforme and the virus from it was identified from its sequence as zantedeschia mosaic virus (ZaMV), providing the first report of this virus from mainland China.

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