ARS | Publication request: Luteoviruses

Submitted to: Encyclopedia of Virology
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: April 5, 2007
Publication Date: September 30, 2010
Citation: Domier, L.L., D'Arcy, C.J. 2010. Luteoviruses. In: Mahy, B.W.J. and Van Regenmortel, M.H.V. Desk Encyclopedia of Plant and Fungal Virology. Oxford:Academic, c2010., p. 197-204.

Technical Abstract: Members of the Luteoviridae family of plant viruses (luteovirids) cause economically important diseases in mono- and dicotyledonous plants. The severity and distribution of infections, which are commonly diagnosed immunologically, are dependent on meteorological conditions that favor movement and reproduction of vector aphids on susceptible plants. The viruses were first grouped based on common biological properties, including persistent and often strain-specific transmission by aphids and induction of yellowing symptoms. Luteovirids were later found to share a common particle morphology (nonenveloped 25-nm icosahedra), with virus particles composed of one molecule of positive-sense single-stranded RNA and one major and one minor capsid protein. Luteovirid genomic RNAs contain five to eight open reading frames (ORFs). Several different strategies are used to express the ORFs, including frameshifting, leaky scanning, termination codon readthrough, and long-distance RNA-RNA interactions. The family Luteoviridae is divided into three genera - Luteovirus, Polerovirus, and Enamovirus - based on the arrangements, sizes, and phylogenetic relationships of the predicted amino acid sequences of the ORFs. Even though luteovirids structural proteins are highly conserved, ORFs 1 and 2 of luteoviruses are related to the polymerase genes of the Tombusviridae, while ORFs 1 and 2 of poleroviruses and enamoviruses are related to those of the Sobemovirus genus.