Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

Two novel RNA molecules, denoted RNA-5 and RNA-6, found in Fig mosaic virus-infected plants in addition to the previously identified four RNA segments were completely sequenced. Each segment consisted of a single open reading frame (ORF). In particular, RNA-5 is 1,752 nucleotides in size and expresses a polypeptide of 502 amino acids (ca. 59 kDa), whereas RNA-6 comprises 1,212 nucleotides and codes for a polypeptide of 188 amino acids (21.5 kDa). Both RNA segments possess, at their 5’/3’ termini, stretches of conserved nucleotides that are common to the other previously identified FMV RNA segments. The proteins encoded by RNA-5- and RNA-6 did not reveal any potential function nor similarities with any known viral protein or conserved motif in database, including those of related Emaravirus-like viruses. The presence of two novel RNA segments in the genome of FMV is in accordance with findings reporting more than four RNA molecules in some of the viruses that, like FMV, have enveloped particles originally denoted “double-membraned bodies”.