Characterization of the 3'-terminal nucleotide sequence of two Korean isolates of Daphne virus S support its placement as a distinct species of the genus Carlavirus.

This study determined the 3'-terminal nucleotide sequences of two Korean isolates of Daphne virus S (DVS), a tentative member of the genus Carlavirus, causing leaf distortion and chlorotic spot disease symptoms in daphne plants. The 3'-terminal 1,465 nucleotide sequences of the two isolates contained two open reading frames coding for proteins of 36 kDa viral coat protein (CP) and 12 kDa from the 5'-3' end, which is a typical genome structure of the 3'-terminal region of carlaviruses. Both DVS isolates were 98.1% and 93.6% amino acid identical in the CP and 12 kDa, respectively. The CP gene of DVS shares 25.2-55.2% and 42.9-56.1% similarities with that of 19 other carlaviruses at the amino acid and nucleotide levels, respectively. The 3'-proximal 12 kDa gene of DVS shares 20.2-57.8% amino acid identities with that of 18 other members of the genus. The 3' noncoding region of DVS consists of 73 nucleotides with long excluding poly A tract, and shares 69.1-77.1% identities to the known carlaviruses. In the phylogenetic analyses of the two proteins, DVS was closely related to Helenium virus S and Chrysanthemum virus B. This is the first sequence information for the DVS, and further confirms the classification of DVS as a distinct member of the genus Carlavirus.