Identification and molecular characterization of a novel species of the genus Totivirus from Areca catechu L.

Abstract In previous work, RNA-seq was applied to identify the causal agent of yellow leaf disease (YLD) of areca palm (Areca catechu L.), besides a YLD related areca palm velarivirus 1 (APV1), a totivirus-like virus annotated as Panax notoginseng virus A (PnVA) was identified. Because the virus was also detected in many asymptomatical areca palm, it was therefore tentatively named Areca palm latent virus 1 (APLV1). The complete sequence of APLV1 was determined to be 4754 base pairs (bp) in length. Two deduced proteins encoded by APLV1 have 55% and 69 % amino acid (aa) sequence identity with CP and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of Bursera graveolens associated totivirus 1 (BgAT1), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on alignment of the CP and RdRp sequences clustered APLV1 with other members of the genus Totivirus, suggesting that APLV1 might be a novel species of the genus Totivirus, family Totiviridae.