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Cohombrillo-associated virus: a novel virus infecting Ecballium elaterium plants

We determined the complete genome sequence of a new virus infecting Ecballium elaterium (‘cohombrillo amargo’) plants, a weed species common in the borders of cultivated fields in the Mediterranean region.

The genome of this virus is composed of two molecules of positive-sense single stranded RNA of 6,934 and 3,508 nucleotides in length, excluding poly(A) tails. One large open reading frame (ORF) in each genomic segment was predicted. The highest amino acid sequence similarity of the Pro-Pol core region of RNA 1 (50% identity) was observed against the corresponding protein of strawberry latent ringspot virus. Based on a phylogenetic analysis, this virus, tentatively named cohombrillo-associated virus (CoAV), could constitute a new member of the genus Stralarivirus, belonging to the species Stralarivirus elaterii. Interestingly, this new virus showed different putative cleavage patterns from the ones reported from other species belonging to this genus.



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