Complete nucleotide sequence of a South African isolate of Grapevine fanleaf virus and its associated satellite RNA.

The complete sequences of RNA1, RNA2 and satellite RNA have been determined for a South African isolate of Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV-SACH44). The two RNAs of GFLV-SACH44 are 7,341 nucleotides (nt) and 3,816 nt in length, respectively, and its satellite RNA (satRNA) is 1,104 nt in length, all excluding the poly(A) tail. Multiple sequence alignment of these sequences showed that GFLV-SACH44 RNA1 and RNA2 were the closest to the South African isolate, GFLV-SAPCS3 (98.2% and 98.6% nt identity, respectively), followed by the French isolate, GFLV-F13 (87.3% and 90.1% nt identity, respectively). Interestingly, the GFLV-SACH44 satRNA is more similar to three Arabis mosaic virus satRNAs (85%-87.4% nt identity) than to the satRNA of GFLV-F13 (81.8% nt identity) and was most distantly related to the satRNA of GFLV-R2 (71.0% nt identity). Full-length infectious clones of GFLV-SACH44 satRNA were constructed. The infectivity of the clones was tested with three nepovirus isolates, GFLV-NW, Arabis mosaic virus (ArMV)-NW and GFLV-SAPCS3. The clones were mechanically inoculated in Chenopodium quinoa and were infectious when co-inoculated with the two GFLV helper viruses, but not when co-inoculated with ArMV-NW.