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Title: ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLETE GENOMIC SEQUENCE OF MAIZE RAYADO FINO VIRUS

Author
item Hammond, Rosemarie
item RAMIREZ, P - UNIV OF COSTA RICA

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The leafhopper-borne, isometric Maize rayado fino virus (MRFV) is the type member of the Marafivirus family. MRFV appears to be restricted to the Americas and it has a limited host range that includes corn. The monopartite RNA genome of MRFV is single-stranded, is 6305 nucleotide residues in length and contains two putative open reading frames. The largest open reading frame encodes a polyprotein of 224 kDa containing 2027 amino acid residues with sequence similarities to the methyltransferase, helicase, a papain-like protease, and replicase of other viruses with RNA genomes. The 3' end of the 224 kDa open reading frame also encodes the two MRFV capsid proteins of 21.5 kDa and 25 kDa. The capsid proteins may arise through translation from a subgenomic RNA by a leaky scanning mechanism and/or by protease cleavage of the precursor polyprotein. A smaller overlapping open reading frame encodes a putative protein of 43 kDa with unknown function but with limited sequence similarities to putative movement proteins of tymoviruses. The nucleotide sequence and proposed genome expression strategy of MRFV is most closely related to that of Oat blue dwarf virus (OBDV), the first member of the Marafiviruses to be sequenced. Unlike OBDV, MRFV RNA does not appear to contain a poly (A) tail, and it encodes a putative second overlapping open reading frame.