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Title: COMMON ELEMENTS OF SPIROPLASMA PLECTROVIRUSES REVEALED BY NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE OF SVTS2

Author
item SHA, YEHSIUNG - OK STATE UNIV STILLWATER
item MELCHER, ULRICH - OK STATE UNIV STILLWATER
item Davis, Robert
item FLETCHER, JACQUELINE - OK STATE UNIV STILLWATER

Submitted to: Virus Genes
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/12/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Spiroplasmas are tiny helical bacteria that lack a cell wall. Some species of spiroplasma cause economically serious diseases of plant crops; other spiroplasma species are found in, and can cause diseases in, insects. This paper reports information about a virus, called SVTS2, that attacks spiroplasmas. It is a small virus and is unique in that it is the only virus known that can infect more than one spiroplasma species. Because viruses have likely played significant roles in the evolution of spiroplasma pathogens, and because viruses can alter the biological properties of bacteria, including their ability to cause diseases, we researched the nucleotide sequence of virus SVTS2 to gain knowledge to help understand the roles of virus genes. Our findings revealed that SVTS2 contains some genes common among known spiroplasma plectroviruses and contains other genes that are unique to SVTS2. This report will be of interest to scientists interested in virology in general and in the evolution of bacteria, especially Mollicutes, and the viruses that infect them.

Technical Abstract: DNA of SpV1-like spiroplasma plectroviruses (rods with single-stranded circular DNA) is scattered in the genome of the phytopathogen Spiroplasma citri and has significant consequences for evolution of the S. citri genome. We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of SVTS2, a SpV1-like virus of S. melliferum, a honeybee pathgoen, to ascertain, by comparison with S. citri SpV1 viruses (GenBank U28974 and X51344), the defining features of this important group. The 6,824 nt DNA contains nine ORFs homologous to ORFs of S. citri SpV1 viruses and five ORFs unique to SVTS2. The predicted amino acid sequences of the homologous ORFs were 17-38% identical to those of their S. citri counterparts. The SVTS2 predicted ORF1 product (Mr 47,031) was considerably smaller than those of known S. citri SpV1 viruses. Also, in contrast to those viruses, SVTS2 lacked an ORF with recognizable similarity to a transposase. ORF2 of all three viruses had a homologue amongthe products of genes of MVL-1, a virus of Acholeplasma laidlawii, another plectrovirus. The results suggest that, at most, only slightly more than half of SpV1 genomes consists of genes shared by all spiroplasm viruses of the group.