LONG, NEARLY IDENTICAL UNTRANSLATED SEQUENCES AT THE 3'-TERMINAL REGIONS OF THE GENOMIC RNAS OF CHERRY LEAFROLL VIRUS (WALNUT STRAIN)

Hybridization analyses of cDNA clones derived from the two genomic RNA s, RNA1 and RNA2, of the walnut strain of the nepovirus cherry leafrol l nepovirus (wCLRV) demonstrated a long region of high homology betwee n the two viral RNAs. Subsequent mapping and nucleotide sequencing rev ealed a long, noncoding, presumably untranslated, region (3' UTR) imme diately 5' of the terminal polyadenylate, a region that is almost iden tical in the two RNAs. This 3' UTR is 1567 nucleotide residues long in RNA1. Homologies of about 80% were found with corresponding regions o f genomic RNAs from other strains of CLRV, but not with the correspond ing regions of other nepovirus genomic RNAs.