The complete genome of a putative endornavirus identified in yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hil.)

DEBAT HJ; GRABIELE M; AGUILERA PM; BUBILLO R; ZAPATA PD; MARTI DA; DUCASSE DA

VIRUS GENES

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2014 vol. 49 p. 348 - 350

0920-8569

We present the first report of a virus infecting the subtropical tree crop yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hil.). Total RNA purification, followed by next-generation sequencing, transcripts assembly and annotation, resulted in the identification of a newendornavirus species infecting yerba mate. The complete sequence of the linear dsRNA viral genome is 13954 nt long, contains a single 13743 nt ORF, presents a 149 nt 5´UTR and a 61 nt 3´UTR. The predicted ORF encodes a 4581 aa polypeptide with a UDP-glucose glycosyl-transferase, a capsular polysaccharide synthesis protein and a RNA dependent RNA polymerase domain. The name yerba mate endornavirus (YmEV) is proposed for the identified virus. Due to the intriguing peculiarities of this virus family, and the complete lack of yerba mate virus literature, we consider that the information reported here will be helpful in leading to a new and needed attention to this important topic and crop.