Identification of novel Bromus- and Trifolium-associated circular DNA viruses

• Published in: Archives of virology Vol. 160; no. 5; pp. 1303 - 1311
• Main Authors: Kraberger, Simona, Farkas, Kata, Bernardo, Pauline, Booker, Cameron, Argüello-Astorga, Gerardo R., Mesléard, François, Martin, Darren P., Roumagnac, Philippe, Varsani, Arvind
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.05.2015; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brief Report; Bromus - virology; Bromus hordeaceus; Capsid Proteins - genetics; Cluster Analysis; DNA Helicases - genetics; DNA Viruses - classification; DNA Viruses - genetics; DNA Viruses - isolation & purification; DNA, Circular - genetics; DNA, Viral - chemistry; DNA, Viral - genetics; Environmental Sciences; France; Geminiviridae; Genomes; Grasses; Infectious Diseases; Medical Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; New Zealand; Open Reading Frames; Phylogeny; Plant Viruses - classification; Plant Viruses - genetics; Plant Viruses - isolation & purification; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology; Trifolium - virology; Trifolium resupinatum; Virology; Viruses; New Zealand; France; South Africa; United States > US; Circular DNA virus; Gemycircularvirus; bromus hordeaceus; gemycircularvirus; circular DNA virus; trifolium resupinatum
• ISSN: 0304-8608; 1432-8798
• DOI: 10.1007/s00705-015-2358-6

The genomes of a large number of highly diverse novel circular DNA viruses from a wide range of sources have been characterised in recent years, including circular single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses that share similarities with plant-infecting ssDNA viruses of the family Geminiviridae . Here, we describe six novel circular DNA viral genomes that encode replication-associated (Rep) proteins that are most closely related to those of either geminiviruses or gemycircularviruses (a new group of ssDNA viruses that are closely related to geminiviruses). Four possible viral genomes were recovered from Bromus hordeaceus sampled in New Zealand, and two were recovered from B. hordeaceus and Trifolium resupinatum sampled in France. Two of the viral genomes from New Zealand (one from the North Island and one from the South Island each) share >99 % sequence identity, and two genomes recovered from B. hordeaceus and T. resupinatum sampled in France share 74 % identity. All of the viral genomes that were recovered were found to have a major open reading frame on both their complementary and virion-sense strands, one of which likely encodes a Rep and the other a capsid protein. Although future infectivity studies are needed to identify the host range of these viruses, this is the first report of circular DNA viruses associated with grasses in New Zealand.