The complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of the M RNA segment of peanut bud necrosis tospovirus and comparison with other tospoviruses

The M RNA of peanut bud necrosis tospovirus is 4801 nucleotides in length. It comprised 2 ORFs in an ambisense organization and terminal inverted repeats. The 3 prime large ORF (3363 nucleotides in the virus-complementary strand) encoded a protein with a predicted size of 127.2 kDa which was identified as the glycoprotein precursor (GP) of the G1 and G2 glycoproteins. A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of GP revealed 37% identity and 58-59% similarity with that of tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (TSWV,serogroup I) and impatiens necrotic spot tospovirus (INSV, serogroup III) and 21-23% identity and 44-47% similarity with members of the genus Bunyavirus. The 5 prime small ORF (924 nucleotides in the virus-sense strand) encoded a 34.2 kDa protein which was identified as the non-structural (NSm) protein based on 41-43% identity and 60-63% similarity with TSWV and INSV. Defective RNA molecules derived from the genomic M RNA were detected during continuous passage of the virus by sap inoculations