ARS | Publication request: Triticum Mosaic Virus: A Distinct Member of the Family Potyviridae with an Unusually Long Leader Sequence

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 30, 2009
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Citation: Tatineni, S., Ziems, D., Wegulo, S.W., French, R.C. 2009. Triticum Mosaic Virus: A Distinct Member of the Family Potyviridae with an Unusually Long Leader Sequence. Phytopathology 99:S127.

Technical Abstract: The complete genome sequence of Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV), a member in the family Potyviridae, has been determined to be 10,266 nucleotides excluding the 3’-polyadenylated tail. The genome encodes a large polyprotein of 3,112 amino acids with the ‘hall-mark proteins’ of potyviruses including a small overlapping gene, PIPO, in the P3 cistron. The genome of TriMV has an unusually long 5’-nontranslated region of 739 nts with 12 translation initiation codons and three small open reading frames, which resemble those of the internal ribosome entry site containing 5’-leader sequences of the members of Picornaviridae. Pair-wise comparison of 10 putative mature proteins of TriMV with those of representative members of genera in the family Potyviridae revealed 33-44% amino acid identity within the highly conserved NIb protein sequence, and 15-29% amino acid identity within the least conserved P1 protein, suggesting that TriMV is a distinct member in the family Potyviridae. In contrast, TriMV displayed 47-65% amino acid sequence identity with available sequences of mature proteins of Sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV), an unassigned member of the Potyviridae. These data together with phylogenetic analyses of polyprotein, CI, NIa, NIb and CP sequences of representative species of six genera of the Potyviridae suggest that TriMV and SCSMV should be classified in a new genus, and we propose the genus Trimovirus (Triticum mosaic virus) in the family Potyviridae with TriMV as the type member.