THE COMPLETE NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE AND GENOME ORGANIZATION OF THE M-RNASEGMENT OF PEANUT BUD NECROSIS TOSPOVIRUS AND COMPARISON WITH OTHER TOSPOVIRUSES

The M RNA of peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV; synonym groundnut bud ne crosis virus) is 4801 nucleotides in length. It comprised two ORFs in an ambisense organization and terminal inverted repeats. The 3' large ORF (3363 nucleotides in the virus-complementary strand) encoded a pro tein with a predicted size of 127.2 kDa which was identified as the gl ycoprotein precursor (GP) of the G1 and G2 glycoproteins. A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of GP revealed 37% identity and 58 -59% similarity with that of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV, serogrou p I) and impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV, serogroup III), and 21-2 3% identity and 44-47 % similarity with those of other members of the genus Bunyavirus. The 5' small ORF (924 nucleotides in the virus-sense strand) encoded a 34.2 kDa protein which was identified as the non-st ructural (NSm) protein based on 41-43% identity and 60-63% similarity with that of TSWV and INSV. Defective RNA molecules derived from the g enomic M RNA were detected during continuous passage of the virus by s ap inoculations.