Cherry virus A: cDNA cloning of dsRNA, nucleotide sequence analysis and serology reveal a new plant capillovirus in sweet cherry

The nucleotide sequence (7383 nucleotides) of a newly identified member of the genus Capillovirus, cherry virus A (CVA), was obtained from cDNA clones. The cDNA was generated from dsRNA extracted from plant tissue infected with little cherry virus (LCV). Small amounts of LCV dsRNA served as template nucleic acid and enabled the construction of a library of which, unex-pectedly, 7.5 % of the recombinant plasmids were specific for CVA. The genome organization of CVA resembles that of apple stem grooving virus (ASGV), the type member of the genus Capillovirus and is composed of a 266 kDa polyprotein (ORF1), a 52 kDa ORF2 located within ORF1 and a poly(A) tail. The 266 kDa ORF1 contains all the elements of a replication-related protein and has high identity with 'Sindbis-like ' viruses