title: Complete genome sequence of a variant of maize-associated totivirus from Ecuador.
abstract: The complete genomic sequence of a variant of the recently reported maize-associated totivirus (MATV) from China was obtained from commercial maize in Ecuador. The genome of MATV-Ec (Ecuador) (4,998 bp) is considerably longer than that of MATV-Ch (China) (3,956 bp), the main difference due to a ≈ 1-kb-long capsid-protein-encoding fragment that is completely absent from the Chinese genome. Sequence alignments between MATV-Ec and MATV-Ch showed an overall identity of 82% at the nucleotide level, whereas at the amino acid level, the viruses exhibited 95% and 94% identity for the putative capsid protein and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the viral RdRp domain indicated that MATV-Ec and MATV-Ch share a common ancestor with other plant-associated totiviruses, with Panax notoginseng virus A as the closest relative. MATV-Ec was detected in 46% (n = 80) of maize plants tested in this study, but not in endophytic fungi isolated from plants positive for the virus.
authors.affiliation: Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador, CIBE, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Quinto
authors.affiliation: Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador, CIBE, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Rodrigo F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Espinoza-Lozano
authors.affiliation: Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mora-Pinargote
authors.affiliation: Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador, CIBE, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador. dquito@espol.edu.ec.|Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador. dquito@espol.edu.ec.
authors.forename: Diego F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Quito-Avila
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D019197:Totivirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D003313:Zea mays / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins