Mixed infections with new emerging viruses associated with jujube mosaic disease

Jujube is an economically important fruit tree and native to China. Viral disease is a new threat to jujube production, and several new viruses have been identified infecting jujube plants. During our field survey, jujube mosaic disease was widely distributed in Beijing, but the associated causal agents are still unknown.

Small RNA deep sequencing was conducted to identify the candidate viruses associated with jujube mosaic. Further complete genome sequences of the viruses were cloned, and the genomic characterization of each virus was analyzed. The field distribution of these viruses was further explored with PCR/RT-PCR detection of field samples.

Mixed infection of four viruses was identified in a plant sample with the symptom of mosaic and leaf twisting, including the previously reported jujube yellow mottle-associated virus (JYMaV), persimmon ampelovirus (PAmpV), a new badnavirus tentatively named jujube-associated badnavirus (JaBV), and a new secovirus tentatively named jujube-associated secovirus (JaSV). PAmpV-jujube was 14,093 nt in length with seven putative open reading frames (ORFs) and shared highest (79.4%) nucleotide (nt) sequence identity with PAmpV PBs3. Recombination analysis showed that PAmpV-jujube was a recombinant originating from plum bark necrosis stem pitting-associated virus isolates nanjing (KC590347) and bark (EF546442). JaBV was 6449 bp in length with conserved genomic organization typical of badnaviruses. The conserved RT and RNAse H region shared highest 67.6% nt sequence identity with jujube mosaic-associated virus, which was below the 80% nt sequence identity value used as the species demarcation threshold in Badnavirus. The genome of JaSV composed of two RNA molecules of 5878 and 3337 nts in length, excluding the polyA tails. Each genome segment contained one large ORF that shared homology and phylogenetic identity with members of the family Secoviridae. Field survey showed JYMaV and JaBV were widely distributed in jujube trees in Beijing.

Two new viruses were identified from jujube plants, and mixed infections of JYMaV and JaBV were common in jujube in Beijing.