A Lineage of Begomoviruses Encode Rep and AC4 Proteins of Enigmatic Ancestry: Hints on the Evolution of Geminiviruses in the New World.

ABSTRACT: The begomoviruses (BGVs) are plant pathogens that evolved in the Old World during the Cretaceous and arrived to the New World (NW) in the Cenozoic era. A subgroup of NW BGVs, the "Squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) lineage" (S-Lin), includes viruses with unique characteristics. To get clues on the evolutionary origin of this lineage, a search for divergent members was undertaken. Four novel BGVs were characterized, including one that is basal to the group. Comparative analyses led to discover a ~670 bp genome module that is nearly exclusive of this lineage, encompassing the replication origin, the AC4 gene, and 480 bp of the Rep gene. A similar DNA module was found in two curtoviruses, hence suggesting that the S-Lin ancestor acquired its distinctive genomic segment by reco

SUBMITTER: Torres-Herrera SI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6669703 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature