MAIZE STRIPE TENUIVIRUS RNA2 TRANSCRIPTS IN PLANT AND INSECT HOSTS AND ANALYSIS OF PVC2, A PROTEIN SIMILAR TO THE PHLEBOVIRUS VIRION MEMBRANE-GLYCOPROTEINS

The complete sequence of the maize stripe tenuivirus (MStV) RNA2 was d etermined (3337 nucleotides). RNA2 contains two large open reading fra mes (ORFs) arranged in an ambisense orientation and specific RNAs of c a. 700 and 2600 nucleotides corresponding to the ORFs were detected in MStV-infected plants and planthoppers. The deduced amino acid sequenc e of the 23,500 MW protein (pv2) encoded by viral RNA2 (vRNA2) was sim ilar to proteins encoded by the rice stripe (RStV) and rice hoja blanc a tenuiviruses vRNA2. Sequence analysis suggested that pv2 is membrane associated. The 93,900 MW protein (pvc2) encoded by viral complementa ry MStV RNA2 (vcRNA2) was similar to the 94,000 MW protein of RStV RNA 2 and to the virion membrane glycoproteins for Phlebovirus members of the Bunyaviridae. The phlebovirus glycoprotein cleavage site was simil ar to a region in the MStV and RStV proteins suggesting that the tenui virus pvc2 may be processed analogous to the phlebovirus glycoproteins .