Analyses of TT virus full-length genomic sequences

Since the identification of TT virus, only one full-length and two near ful l-length sequences representing a single subtype of the virus have been rep orted. In order to understand further the nature of the TT virus genome, ni ne of the most divergent TT virus sequences have been extended to full-leng th or near full-length. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that these seque nces represent three distinct TT virus genotypes and two subtypes. A high d egree of nucleotide sequence variability (approximately 30%) was observed a cross the genomes with several significantly more divergent regions. Three conserved ORFs were identified, none of which shared significant amino acid sequence identity to sequences present in public databases. Additionally, sequence motifs, such as those necessary for protein translation and for ro lling circle replication, were found to be partially conserved between all TT virus isolates.