Complete genome sequences of two new variants of Grapevine rupestris stem pitting-associated virus and comparative...

Grapevine rupestris stem pitting-associated virus (GRSPaV), a member of the genus Foveavirus within the family Flexiviridae, is the putative causal agent of the disease Rupestris stem pitting (RSP) of grapevines. GRSPaV comprises a family of variants whose pathological characteristics have not been determined. Recently, many of the indicator "St George" plants (Vitis rupestris) used throughout the world to index RSP tested positive for GRSPaV. This finding questions the validity of past biological indexing results. In this work, a representative genomic region of GRSPaV was first sequenced from ten "St George" plants from two sources and it was demonstrated that nine of them carried a new variant, GRSPaV-SG1. The genomes of GRSPaV-SG1 and GRSPaV-BS from "Bertille Seyve 5563" plants were sequenced, revealing a genome structure identical to that of GRSPaV-1. It was demonstrated experimentally that infection of "St George" plants with GRSPaV-SG1 is asymptomatic and thus it is proposed that GRSPaV-SG1 infection should not have interfered with the outcome of past indicator indexing. This represents the first attempt to link a GRSPaV variant with pathological properties.