Characterisation of a proposed Nucleorhabdovirus new to South Africa

Abstract

A previously uncharacterised plant rhabdovirus, infecting Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) in the North West Province, South Africa, has been found. To determine the morphology and virion size of this virus, embedded ultra-thin sections of infected plant samples were observed under a transmission electron microscope. The virion distribution within the cell, its bullet-shaped morphology and its size (240 × 63 nm) indicated that this might be a rhabdovirus of the genus Nucleorhabdovirus. Degenerate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers were designed by alignment of the polymerase gene sequences of several plant rhabdoviruses in order to identify conserved regions. Standard PCR and sequencing protocols were used to determine a partial polymerase gene sequence of this virus sample which was then compared to the most closely related sequences available on Genbank. The analysis indicated that the virus was indeed most closely related to known nucleorhabdoviruses, with the highest nucleotide sequence similarities being to Maize mosaic virus and Taro vein chlorosis virus (70% and 69.7% respectively). Serological testing indicated that the South African Cynodon rhabdovirus had a close serological relationship with the nucleorhabdovirus Cynodon chlorotic streak virus.