COMPLETE NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF THE GENOME OF A SEVERE CHERRY ISOLATEOF APPLE CHLOROTIC LEAF-SPOT TRICHOVIRUS (ACLSV)

The genome of the Balaton1 severe cherry isolate of apple chlorotic le af spot trichovirus (ACLSV-Bal1) has been cloned and sequenced. The ge nomic RNA is 7 549 nucleotide long, excluding the poly A tail. The gen omic organization, with three overlapping open reading frames (ORF), i s similar to that of the other sequenced ACLSV isolates. Sequence comp arisons indicate a high variability between ACLSV isolates, with overa ll nucleotide sequence homology levels between 76 and 82%. The coat pr otein, encoded internally inside a larger ORF, is the most conserved p rotein (identity levels between 87 and 93%) while the central ORF, enc oding the putative movement protein, is the most divergent (77 to 85% identity).