ORGANIZATION OF THE 3'-TERMINAL HALF OF BEET YELLOW STUNT VIRUS GENOME AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF CLOSTEROVIRUSES

The 3'-terminal half of the beet yellow stunt virus (BYSV) genome, 10, 545 nt, has been cloned and sequenced. The sequenced portion of the BY SV genome encompasses 10 open reading frames (ORFs) and 241 nt of the 3' untranslated region. The sequence spans, in the 5' to 3' direction, the C-terminal region of the replication-associated polyprotein gene (ORF la) which includes the set of motifs typical of helicases (HEL), the entire 53-kDa polymerase (RdRp) gene (ORF Ib), and genes encoding 30-kDa (ORF 2), 6-kDa (ORF 3), 66-kDa (ORF 4), 61-kDa (ORF 5), 25-kDa (ORF 6), 23.7-kDa (coat protein, CP) (ORF 7), 18-kDa (ORF 8), and 22-k Da (ORF 9) proteins. The double-stranded RNA ''replicative form'' of t he BYSV was demonstrated to have a nontemplate G residue at the 3' ter minus of the (+) strand. The RdRp of BYSV is presumably expressed via a +1 ribosomal frameshift. The five-gene module conserved among closte roviruses was identified in BYSV; it includes a gene array coding for a 6-kDa small hydrophobic protein, a 66-kDa homolog of the cellular HS P70 heat shock proteins, a 61-kDa protein, and a 25-kDa diverged copy of the CP followed by the CP gene itself. Phylogenetic analysis of the replication-associated HEL and RdRp domains as well as proteins from the five-gene module demonstrated the closest relationship between BYS V and two other closteroviruses, beet yellows (BYV) and citrus tristez a (CTV) viruses. Like CTV, the BYSV genome contains a 30-kDa protein g ene between the RdRp and the 6-kDa protein genes, and like BW it has o nly two genes downstream of the CP gene. The organization of the BYSV genome appears to be intermediate between BW and CN, which suggests th at these three viruses might represent three distinct but probably clo se stages in the closterovirus evolution. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc .