Short communication - Nucleotide sequence analyses indicate that a furo-like virus from cereal, formerly considered to be a strain of Soil-borne wheat mosaic virus, should be regarded as a new virus species: Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus

The complete nucleotide sequences have been determined for the genomes of t hree sources of a new furovirus which mainly infects rye and very rarely wh eat in Germany and for which the name Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus (SBCMV ) is proposed. Two sources of this virus, named G and O, respectively, were obtained from rye and a third one, named C, from wheal. The various source s of SBCMV are serologically related to Soil-borne wheat mosaic virus (SBWM V) and the two viruses have the same genome organization. However, the nucl eotide sequences of genomes of SBWMV, on the one sire, and of the three sou rces of SBRMV, on the other, differ by ca. 20 % to 50 %, depending on the p art of the genome analyzed. Especially the O source (from rye) and the C so urce (from wheat) of SBCMV are closely interrelated, whereas the G source i s somewhat more distantly related. The genome properties of the three sourc es of SBCMV have been described in derail by KOENIG et. al. (1999) and KOEN IG and HUTH (2000).