Isolation and identification of a new tetravirus from Dendrolimus punctatus larvae collected from Yunnan Province, China.
In this study, Dendrolimus punctatus tetravirus (DpTV) has been identified as a new member of the genus Omegatetravirus of the family Tetraviridae that may be related serologically to Nudaurelia capensis omega virus (NomegaV). DpTV particles are isometric, with a diameter of about 40 nm and a buoyant density of 1.281 g cm(-3) in CsCl. The virus has two capsid proteins (of 62 500 and 6800 Da) and two single-stranded RNA molecules (RNA1 and RNA2), which are 5492 and 2490 nt long, respectively. RNA1 has a large open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 180 kDa; RNA2 contains two partially overlapping ORFs encoding polypeptides of 17 and 70 kDa. The 180 kDa protein, which contains consensus motifs of a putative methyltransferase, helicase and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, shows significant similarity to those of other tetraviruses. The 17 kDa protein is a PEST (Pro/Glu/Ser/Thr) protein of unknown function. The 70 kDa protein is the coat protein precursor and is predicted to be cleaved at an Asn-Phe site located after residue 570. The 70 kDa protein shows 86 and 66 % identity to its homologues in NomegaV and Helicoverpa armigera stunt virus, respectively. Secondary-structure analysis revealed that the RNAs of DpTV have tRNA-like structures at their 3' termini.
Yi
Fuming
F
Laboratory of Insect Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Zhang
Jiamin
J
Laboratory of Insect Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Yu
Haiyang
H
Laboratory of Insect Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Liu
Chuanfeng
C
Laboratory of Insect Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Wang
Junping
J
Laboratory of Insect Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Hu
Yuanyang
Y
Laboratory of Insect Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D016679:Genome, Viral; D007304:Insect Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007814:Larva / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000821:virology*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D012328:RNA Viruses / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism