Valerian V. Dolja
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| Taxonomic relationship: | Type member of the genus Closterovirus, family Closteroviridae. A member of the alphavirus-like supergroup of positive-strand RNA viruses. |
| Physical Properties: | Virions are flexuous filaments of ~1300 nm in length and ~12 nm in diameter that are made up of a ~15.5 kb RNA and five proteins. The major capsid protein forms virion body of helical symmetry that constitutes ~95% of the virion length. The short virion tail is assembled by the minor capsid protein, Hsp70-homologue, ~64-kDa protein, and ~20-kDa protein. |
| Viral proteins: | The 5′-most ORFs 1a and 1b encode leader proteinase and RNA replicase. The remaining ORFs 2-8 are expressed by subgenomic mRNAs that encode 6-kDa membrane protein, Hsp70 homologue, ~64-kDa protein, minor and major capsid proteins, ~20-kDa protein, and ~21-kDa protein, respectively. |
| Hosts: | The principal crop plants affected by Beet yellows virus (BYV) are sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) and spinach (Spinacea oleracea). In addition, BYV was reported to infect ~120 species in 15 families. Most suitable propagation species are Nicotiana benthamiana, Tetragonia expansa, and Claytonia perfoliata. |
