also be run using the RNA of the virus. A part of the viral genome can be copied and sequenced and then compared to sequences of other potyviruses in the GenBank. If the sequence of the segment matches to a known sequence at 90% or greater it can be assumed the virus in the plant is that same virus. A third way used to diagnose some plant viruses is to inoculate a variety of other plants and match the known host range for a given plant virus. In addition, plant viruses make inclusion bodies in plant cells that can be stained and seen in a light microscope. Bidens mottle has a distinctive host range and makes typical potyvirus inclusions. One of the diagnostic hosts for this virus is the plant Zinnia elegans. The virus makes easily recognizable viral inclusions called laminated aggregates and prominent symptoms on both the leaves and the flowers of this plant. (Symptoms and Inclusions of Bidens mottle virus infecting Zinnia elegans) Geographic distribution Until 2007 the only place this virus was known was in the United States, in particular in the state of Florida. In 2007, the virus was identified in a new host in Florida and it was partially sequenced for the first time. When the sequence of 247 base pairs was compared to other potyvirus sequences in GenBank it matched a virus found in Taiwan tentatively called Sunflower chlorotic spot virus (SCSV) whose sequence had been deposited in the GenBank in 2001 (GenBank Accession No. AF538686). The nucleotide sequences of the two were 94% identical and the deduced amino acid sequences were 98% identical. At the time it was suggested that SCSV and BiMoV were one and the same. Another publication in 2008 directly compared the sequences of a second isolate of BiMoV from Florida to the sequence of SCSV from Taiwan. The authors of the article concluded that "the sunflower chlorotic spot virus described from Taiwan is in fact an isolate of BiMoV". In addition, an isolate of what was believed to be SCSV (based on sequences available in 2004) was found in the State of São Paulo in Brazil. Taken together these reports likely mean that the geographical distribution of BiMoV now includes Taiwan and Brazil in addition to the US. (Note that when two named viruses are found to be identical, precedence is given to the virus name reported first in