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A new flavi-like virus identified in populations of wild carrot

Deborah Schönegger, Armelle Marais, Chantal Faure, Thierry Candresse. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-022-05544-1. A new flavi-like virus was identified in the virome of wild carrots. It is tentatively named “carrot flavi-like virus 1” (CtFLV-1) and has a large genome of 21.8 kb with a single open reading frame encoding a large polyprotein with conserved RNA helicase and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase domains. CtFLV-1 is phylogenetically related to flavi-like viruses from arthropods, but is closest to a plant-associated virus, gentian Kobu-sho-associated virus (GKSaV), with which it could form the basis for a new genus of plant-associated viruses, for which the name “Koshovirus” is proposed

We report the discovery of a new flavi-like virus identified in wild carrots (Daucus carota subsp. carota), using a double-stranded(ds)RNA high-throughput sequencing (HTS) approach. The new virus, tentatively named “carrot flavi-like virus 1” (CtFLV-1), has a large genome of 21.8 kb that harbours a single open reading frame encoding a 7,078-aa polyprotein with conserved RNA helicase (Hel) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) domains. The new virus is phylogenetically related to recently described flavi-like viruses from arthropods, but its closest relative is a plant-associated virus, gentian Kobu-sho-associated virus (GKSaV). A pairwise comparison showed that these two viruses share 38.4% amino acid (aa) sequence identity in their polyproteins and 73% and 47.8% aa sequence identity in their conserved RdRp and Hel domains, respectively. Based on their similar genome organization and phylogenetic relationship, GKSaV and CtFLV-1 could form the basis for a new genus of plant-associated viruses, possibly within the family Flaviviridae, for which the name “Koshovirus” is proposed.



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