Genome organization and variation in the 3'-partial sequence of garlic latent virus in China

Ten different isolates of a carlavirus were detected by degenerate PCR from 12 garlic samples collected from 6 provinces in China, and the complete genome sequence of the Zhejiang isolate ZJ1 and 3'-terminal sequences of 9 other isolates were determined. The RNA genome of isolate ZJ1 consisted of 8363nts excluding the 3'-poly (A) tail, and the genome organization was similar to other carlaviruses with 6 open reading frames encoding a replicase, TGB1, TGB2, TGB3, CP and NABP respectively. Sequence comparisons showed that all 10 isolates were Garlic latent virus (GarLV). The variations in the TGB2, TGB3 and NABP were more significant than those in the CP. High homology was also detected between those isolates and Shallot latent virus (ShLV). Phylogenetic analysis suggested that GarLV isolates from garlic can be divided into 4 main groups and Chinese isolates belonged to each group. This is the first reported molecular analysis of members of the genus Carlavirus in China.