The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Private Bag 92169, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
The School of Science, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Viruses. 2021 Aug 14;13(8):1611. doi: 10.3390/v13081611.
We report the first emaravirus on an endemic plant of Aotearoa New Zealand that is, to the best of our knowledge, the country's first endemic virus characterised associated with an indigenous plant. The new-to-science virus was identified in the endemic karaka tree (), and is associated with chlorotic leaf spots, and possible feeding sites of the monophagous endemic karaka gall mite. Of the five negative-sense RNA genomic segments that were fully sequenced, four (RNA 1-4) had similarity to other emaraviruses while RNA 5 had no similarity with other viral proteins. A detection assay developed to amplify any of the five RNAs in a single assay was used to determine the distribution of the virus. The virus is widespread in the Auckland area, particularly in mature trees at Ōkahu Bay, with only occasional reports elsewhere in the North Island. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that its closest relatives are pear chlorotic leaf spot-associated virus and chrysanthemum mosaic-associated virus, which form a unique clade within the genus . Based on the genome structure, we propose this virus to be part of the family , but with less than 50% amino acid similarity to the closest relatives in the most conserved RNA 1, it clearly is a novel species. In consultation with mana whenua (indigenous Māori authority over a territory and its associated treasures), we propose the name Karaka Ōkahu purepure virus in te reo Māori (the Māori language) to reflect the tree from which it was isolated (karaka), a place where the virus is prevalent (Ōkahu), and the spotted symptom (purepure, pronounced pooray pooray) that this endemic virus appears to cause.
我们报告了在新西兰特有植物上发现的第一种伊玛病毒，据我们所知，这是该国首例与本土植物相关的特有病毒。这种新发现的病毒存在于特有树种卡拉卡树（）中，与黄化病斑和可能以该树种为食的特有卡拉卡叶瘿螨有关。在已完全测序的五个负义 RNA 基因组片段中，有四个（RNA1-4）与其他伊玛病毒具有相似性，而 RNA5 与其他病毒蛋白没有相似性。我们开发了一种检测方法，可以在单个检测中扩增这 5 个 RNA 中的任何一个，用于确定该病毒的分布情况。该病毒在奥克兰地区广泛存在，特别是在奥卡胡湾的成熟树木中，在北岛其他地方只有偶尔报告。系统发育分析显示，其亲缘关系最近的是梨黄化病斑相关病毒和菊花花叶相关病毒，它们在属内形成一个独特的分支。根据基因组结构，我们提出该病毒属于家族，但与最保守的 RNA1 中亲缘关系最近的病毒相比，其氨基酸相似性不到 50%，显然是一种新型病毒。在与 mana whenua（对一个领土及其相关宝藏拥有土著权威的人）协商后，我们用毛利语（ Māori 语）提出了卡拉卡奥卡胡普雷普雷病毒（Karaka Ōkahu purepure virus）的名称，以反映其分离的树种（卡拉卡）、该病毒流行的地方（奥卡胡）和该特有病毒引起的斑点症状（普雷普雷，发音为 pooray pooray）。
