Molecular characterization of a novel chlorotic leaf curl-associated foveavirus infecting prune trees

Abstract The Prune tree (Prunus mume) is widely distributed in East Asian countries for fruit, medicinal herbs, or ornamental purposes for more than 2000 years. High-throughput sequencing in prune tree leaves showing chlorosis and leaf curl symptoms sampled from the China National Botanical Garden revealed the presence of a putative novel virus belonging to the genus Foveavirus, the family Betaflexiviridae. We cloned the completion genome of this new virus and named this virus as prune tree chlorotic leaf curl-associated virus (PTCLCaV). The genome of PTCLCaV is a 9 034 nucleotide (nt) positive-sense, single strand RNA, excluding its 3’ poly (A) tail, and contains five open reading frames (ORFs). ORF1 encodes a putative viral replication-associated protein (Rep), and ORFs 2, 3, and 4 encode the triple gene block (TGB) proteins. ORF5 encodes the capsid protein (CP). Our phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that PTCLCaV is evolutionarily related to members from the genus Foveavirus of the family Betaflexiviridae. Based on sequence identity and phylogenetic analysis, PTCLCaV represents a new species of the genus Foveavirus in the family Betaflexiviridae.