Nucleotide sequence of the 7 K gene of Helenium virus S.

The sequence of 380 nucleotides upstream of the start codon of the open reading frame (ORF) of the coat protein of the carlavirus Helenium virus (HelVS) was determined from cloned cDNA. This portion of the viral RNA contained one complete ORF encoding a protein of 7 K which had homology with similar sized proteins from other members of the carla- and potexvirus groups. Sequence data was also obtained beyond the start codon of the 7 K ORF into what was presumed to be the 12 K protein gene of the previously identified triple gene block of carla- and potexviruses. Significant sequence similarity of 46.3% and 41.6% was evident at the amino acid level with the equivalent regions of the 12 K proteins of potato virus S, Andean strain (PVSA) and potato virus M (PVM), respectively, with 25.4% similarity detected with the equivalent region of potato virus X (PVX).