Genomic analysis of a novel isolate Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3i(HvAV?3i) and identification of ascoviral repeat ORFs (aros)

AbstractAscoviruses are circular double-stranded DNA viruses that infect insects. Herein we sequenced and analyzed the genome ofthe previously unrecorded ascovirus isolate Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3i (HvAV-3i). The genome size is 185,650 bp with181 hypothetical open reading frames (ORFs). Additionally, definition based on ascovirus repeated ORFs (aros) is proposed;whereby the 29 aros from all sequenced Ascoviridae genomes are divided into six distinct groups. The topological relationshipamong the isolates of Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3a is (HvAV-3f, {HvAV-3h, [HvAV-3e, (HvAV-3g, HvAV-3i)]})with every clade well supported by a Bayesian posterior probability of 1.00 and a Bootstrap value of 100%