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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #261286

Title: Blueberry latent virus: An Amalgam of the Totiviridae and Partitiviridae

Author
item Martin, Robert
item ZHOU, J - University Of Arkansas
item TZANETAKIS, I - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: Virus Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/21/2010
Publication Date: 1/4/2011
Citation: Martin, R.R., Zhou, J., Tzanetakis, I.E. 2011. Blueberry latent virus: An amalgam of the Totiviridae and Partitiviridae. Virus Research. 155:175-180..

Interpretive Summary: In efforts to characterize the virus or viruses associated with blueberry fruit drop disease, a virus was cloned and sequenced. However, once a reliable test for the virus was developed and employed widely, it was found that this virus occurred in many blueberry cultivars throughout North America. The virus was not associated with any disease in blueberry and thus was named Blueberry latent virus (BBLV). The virus was detected in more than 50% of samples tested and is seed transmitted at very high efficiency based on three crosses that were examined. The sequence of BBLV most closely aligns with the family Partitiviridae, though it's genome organization is more similar to the Totiviridae; thus, it appears to represent a new family of plant viruses. It has a unique genome organization for a plant virus, but BBLV also has many of the signature properties of cryptic viruses, including symptomless infection, efficient seed transmission and high homogeneity at the sequence level.

Technical Abstract: A new, symptomless virus was identified in blueberry. The dsRNA genome of the virus, provisionally named Blueberry latent virus (BBLV), codes for two putative proteins and lacks a movement protein, a property only shared with cryptic viruses. More than 35 isolates of the virus from different cultivars and geographic regions were partially or completely sequenced. BBLV, found in more than 50% of the material tested, has high degree of homogeneity as isolates show more than 99% nucleotide identity between them. Phylogenetic analysis clearly shows a close relationship between BBLV and members of the Partitiviridae, although its genome organization is related more closely to members of the Totiviridae. Seed transmission studies from three separate crosses showed that the virus is transmitted very efficiently by seed. These properties suggest that BBLV belongs to a new family of plant viruses with unique genome organization for a plant virus, but it has many of the signature properties of cryptic viruses, including symptomless infection, sequence homogeneity and very efficient vertical transmission.