Two new umbravirus-like associated RNAs (ulaRNAs) discovered in maize and johnsongrass from Ecuador

• Published in: Archives of virology Vol. 167; no. 10; pp. 2093 - 2098
• Main Authors: Quito-Avila, Diego F., Reyes-Proaño, Edison G., Mendoza, Alma, Margaria, Paolo, Menzel, Wulf, Bera, Sayanta, Simon, Anne E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.10.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amino acid sequence; Annotated Sequence Record; Bioinformatics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; DNA-directed RNA polymerase; Genomes; Infectious Diseases; Internet resources; Medical Microbiology; Nucleotide sequence; Open reading frames; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Proteins; Sugarcane; Taxonomy; Virology; Viruses; Ecuador
• ISSN: 0304-8608; 1432-8798
• DOI: 10.1007/s00705-022-05525-4

Two new umbravirus-like associated RNAs (ulaRNAs) were found, respectively, in maize and Johnsongrass samples from Ecuador. The complete sequences consist of 3,053 and 3,025 nucleotides, respectively, and contain four open reading frames (ORFs). Their genome sequences were 58% identical to each other and 28 to 60% identical to the most closely related viruses. Phylogenetic analysis using full genome sequences and amino acid sequence of the RNA-dependent-RNA polymerase (RdRp) placed both sequences in a clade sharing the most recent common ancestor with ulaRNAs from sugarcane and maize, suggesting that they belong to a monophyletic grass-infecting lineage. Their terminal regions exhibit features common to umbraviruses and ulaRNAs.