Complete sequence and genome properties of Chinese wheat mosaic virus, a new furovirus from China

The complete nucleotide sequence of a virus infecting winter wheat in Shandong province, China has been determined, This was previously thought to be soil-borne wheat mosaic virus but, while the two viruses are related, they are only 75% (RNA1) and 63% (RNA2) identical at the nucleotide level, while the amino acid sequences share from 62% (19 kDa RNA2 product) to 84% (RNA1 replicase) identity. The analysis shows that the Chinese virus should be considered a new member of the genus Furovirus and has been named Chinese wheat mosaic virus (CWMV), A Cys-Gly ... Cys-Gly-X-X-His amino acid pattern was identified in the cysteine-rich protein of CWMV and those of several other plant virus genera, which seems likely to have some functional significance.