This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: JVI.02588-07v1 82/9/4595    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Google Scholar Articles by Abd-Alla, A. M. M. Articles by Bergoin, M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Abd-Alla, A. M. M. Articles by Bergoin, M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Virology, May 2008, p. 4595-4611, Vol. 82, No. 9
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.02588-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genome Analysis of a Glossina pallidipes Salivary Gland Hypertrophy Virus Reveals a Novel, Large, Double-Stranded Circular DNA Virus

Entomology Unit, FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, Agency's Laboratories, A-2444 Seibersdorf, Austria,¹ Laboratoire de Pathologie Comparée, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France,² Department of Pests and Plant Protection, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt,³ Agricultural Service Center Palatinate (DLR Rheinpfalz), Breitenweg 71, 67435 Neustadt a/d Weinstrasse, Germany,⁴ 10 Lockhart Close, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 1RB, United Kingdom,⁵ Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen University, Binnenhaven 11, 6709 PD Wageningen, The Netherlands⁶

Received 5 December 2007/ Accepted 1 February 2008

Several species of tsetse flies can be infected by the Glossina pallidipes salivary gland hypertrophy virus (GpSGHV). Infection causes salivary gland hypertrophy and also significantly reduces the fecundity of the infected flies. To better understand the molecular basis underlying the pathogenesis of this unusual virus, we sequenced and analyzed its genome. The GpSGHV genome is a double-stranded circular DNA molecule of 190,032 bp containing 160 nonoverlapping open reading frames (ORFs), which are distributed equally on both strands with a gene density of one per 1.2 kb. It has a high A+T content of 72%. About 3% of the GpSGHV genome is composed of 15 sequence repeats, distributed throughout the genome. Although sharing the same morphological features (enveloped rod-shaped nucleocapsid) as baculoviruses, nudiviruses, and nimaviruses, analysis of its genome revealed that GpSGHV differs significantly from these viruses at the level of its genes. Sequence comparisons indicated that only 23% of GpSGHV genes displayed moderate homologies to genes from other invertebrate viruses, principally baculoviruses and entomopoxviruses. Most strikingly, the GpSGHV genome encodes homologues to the four baculoviral per os infectivity factors (p74 [pif-0], pif-1, pif-2, and pif-3). The DNA polymerase encoded by GpSGHV is of type B and appears to be phylogenetically distant from all DNA polymerases encoded by large double-stranded DNA viruses. The majority of the remaining ORFs could not be assigned by sequence comparison. Furthermore, no homologues to DNA-dependent RNA polymerase subunits were detected. Taken together, these data indicate that GpSGHV is the prototype member of a novel group of insect viruses.

Published ahead of print on 13 February 2008.