title: Analysis of the complete genome sequence and capsid region of black queen cell viruses from infected honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Korea.
abstract: Black queen cell virus (BQCV) infection is one of the most common viral infections in honeybees (Apis mellifera). A phylogenetic tree was constructed for 19 partial nucleotide sequences for the capsid region of South Korean BQCV, which were also compared with 10 previously reported BQCV sequences derived from different countries. The Korean BQCV genomes were highly conserved and showed 97-100% identity. They also showed 92-99% similarity with other country genotypes and showed no significant clustering in the phylogenetic tree. In order to investigate this phenomenon in more detail, the complete genome sequence of the Korean BQCV strain was determined and aligned with those from a South African reference strain and European genotypes, Poland4-6 and Hungary10. A phylogenetic tree was then constructed. The Korean BQCV strain showed a high level of similarity (92%) with Hungary10, but low similarity (86%) with the South African reference genotype. Comparison of the Korean and other sequences across different genome regions revealed that the 5'-UTR, the intergenic region, and the capsid regions of the BQCV genome were highly conserved. ORF1 (a non-structural protein coding region) was more variable than ORF2 (a structural protein coding region). The 5'-proximal third of ORF1 was particularly variable and contained several insertions/deletions. This phenomenon may be explained by intra-molecular recombination between the Korean and other BQCV genotypes; this appeared to have happened more with the South African reference strain than with the European genotypes.
authors.affiliation: Parasitology and Insect Disease Research Laboratory, Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency, 480 Anyang 6 dong, Anyang City 420-480, South Korea. eswar4uk@gmail.com
authors.forename: Kondreddy Eswar
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Jin Hyeong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Se Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.forename: Chang Hee
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kweon
authors.forename: Mi Sun
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Huong Thi Thanh
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Doan
authors.forename: Mummadireddy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramya
authors.forename: Byoung-Su
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Lien Thi Kim
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Thuy Thi Dieu
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Dong Van
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Quyen
authors.forename: Suk-Chan
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Ki-Yoon
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Seung Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001516:Bees / Q000821:virology*; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D056629:Dicistroviridae / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D056910:Republic of Korea; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D036022:Capsid Proteins