Publications by authors named "Wulf Menzel"

Virus yellows disease (VY) is a major threat to sugar beet production in Europe. Beet chlorosis virus (BChV) and beet mild yellowing virus (BMYV) are of particular economic importance and are both persistently transmitted by the aphid vector Myzus persicae. As part of integrated pest management strategies, M.

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Article Synopsis
  • Plant viruses are significant threats to cucurbit production in Jordan, with symptoms observed during surveys in September 2022 indicating infections correlated with high whitefly populations.
  • A total of 80 leaf samples from various cucurbits were analyzed, revealing the presence of multiple viruses, including the squash vein yellowing virus, across symptomatic samples without detection in asymptomatic ones.
  • Molecular approaches confirmed the presence of several RNA and DNA viruses, but none were found in healthy samples, highlighting the impact of these pathogens on cucurbit crops.
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White yam (Dioscorea rotundata) plants collected from farmers' fields and planted at the Areka Agricultural Research Center, Southern Ethiopia, displayed mosaic, mottling, and chlorosis symptoms. To determine the presence of viral pathogens, an investigation for virome characterization was conducted by Illumina high-throughput sequencing. The bioinformatics analysis allowed the assembly of five viral genomes, which according to the ICTV criteria were assigned to a novel potyvirus (3 genome sequences) and a novel crinivirus (2 genome sequences).

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Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) was introduced in Sicily (Italy) in the 1930s in the small town of Maletto, on the slopes of Etna volcan, where it's currently cultivated in a total area of 30 ha. The French cv.

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We report here efforts to benchmark performance of two widespread approaches for virome analysis, which target either virion-associated nucleic acids (VANA) or highly purified double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs). This was achieved using synthetic communities of varying complexity levels, up to a highly complex community of 72 viral agents (115 viral molecules) comprising isolates from 21 families and 61 genera of plant viruses. The results obtained confirm that the dsRNA-based approach provides a more complete representation of the RNA virome, in particular, for high complexity ones.

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L. is a climbing shrub and a pioneer plant in abandoned orchards or vineyards that are widespread in temperate climate zones. In past years, several viruses infecting the species have been identified, including different ilarviruses.

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In the field of plant virology, the usage of reverse genetic systems has been reported for multiple purposes. One is understanding virus-host interaction by labelling viral cDNA clones with fluorescent protein genes to allow visual virus tracking throughout a plant, albeit this visualization depends on technical devices. Here we report the first construction of an infectious cDNA full-length clone of beet mosaic virus (BtMV) that can be efficiently used for Agrobacterium-mediated leaf inoculation with high infection rate in Beta vulgaris, being indistinguishable from the natural virus isolate regarding symptom development and vector transmission.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Two new umbravirus-like associated RNAs (ulaRNAs) were discovered in maize and Johnsongrass samples from Ecuador, with complete sequences of 3,053 and 3,025 nucleotides, respectively.
  • - The genomes of these ulaRNAs show 58% identity to each other and 28-60% identity to related viruses, indicating they have a shared evolutionary background.
  • - Phylogenetic analysis suggests that these ulaRNAs are part of a monophyletic lineage of grass-infecting viruses, sharing a recent common ancestor with ulaRNAs found in sugarcane and maize, and exhibiting common features typical of umbraviruses.
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The family includes viruses with flexuous filamentous virions that are 470-800 nm in length and 12-13 nm in diameter. Alphaflexiviruses have a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome of 5.5-9 kb.

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Article Synopsis
  • Viruses in this family have a positive-sense RNA genome that can be mono-, bi-, or tripartite, ranging from 13-19 kb in size.
  • They are non-enveloped filamentous particles, measuring 650-2200 nm in length and 12 nm in diameter.
  • These viruses primarily infect dicot plants, particularly many fruit crops.
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Using next-generation sequencing to characterize agents associated with a severe stunting disease of parsley from Germany, we identified a hitherto undescribed virus. We sequenced total RNA and rolling-circle-amplified DNA from diseased plants. The genome sequence of the virus shows that it is a member of the genus Nanovirus, but it lacks DNA-U4.

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Virus discovery based on high-throughput sequencing relies on enrichment for virus sequences prior to library preparation to achieve a sufficient number of viral reads. In general, preparations of double-stranded RNA or total RNA preparations treated to remove rRNA are used for sequence enrichment. We used virus-specific antibodies to immunocapture virions from plant sap to conduct cDNA synthesis, followed by library preparation and HTS.

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Recent metagenomic studies have provided an unprecedented wealth of data, which are revolutionizing our understanding of virus diversity. A redrawn landscape highlights viruses as active players in the phytobiome, and surveys have uncovered their positive roles in environmental stress tolerance of plants. Viral infectious clones are key tools for functional characterization of known and newly identified viruses.

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Celery latent virus (CeLV) is an incompletely described plant virus known to be sap and seed transmissible and to possess flexuous filamentous particles measuring about 900 nm in length, suggesting it as a possible member of the family Potyviridae. Here, an Italian isolate of CeLV was transmitted by sap to a number of host plants and shown to have a single-stranded and monopartite RNA genome being 11 519 nucleotides (nts) in size and possessing some unusual features. The RNA contains a large open reading frame (ORF) that is flanked by a short 5' untranslated region (UTR) of 13 nt and a 3' UTR consisting of 586 nt that is not polyadenylated.

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The complete genome sequence of an isolate of euphorbia ringspot virus (EuRSV) was determined by deep sequencing and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) RT-PCR. It has an RNA genome of 10,154 nucleotides in size, excluding the poly(A) tail, and encodes a polyprotein of 3265 amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis from this study supports the earlier taxonomic assignment to the genus Potyvirus; however, a gene encoding the HAM1h protein, inserted between NIb and CP of the EuRSV genome, which was previously only observed for cassava brown streak virus and Ugandan cassava brown streak virus of the genus Ipomovirus, is an unusual feature of this potyvirus, which otherwise has typical potyvirus genome features.

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Luffa aphid-borne yellows virus (LABYV) was proposed as the name for a previously undescribed polerovirus based on partial genome sequences obtained from samples of cucurbit plants collected in Thailand between 2008 and 2013. In this study, we determined the first full-length genome sequence of LABYV. Based on phylogenetic analysis and genome properties, it is clear that this virus represents a distinct species in the genus Polerovirus.

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Etiological studies of a recently emerged bushy top disease of tobacco in Ethiopia indicated that a ~4.5-kb dsRNA from infected plants represents an umbravirus, whereas a smaller band (~0.5 kb) is that of a new satellite RNA.

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The complete nucleotide sequence of an Albanian isolate of grapevine leafroll-associated virus 7 (GLRaV-7-Alb) was determined. The viral genome consists of 16,404 nucleotides and has nine open reading frames (ORFs) that potentially encode proteins, most of which are typical for members of the family Closteroviridae. Only the 25-kDa (ORF8) and 27-kDa (ORF9) proteins had no apparent similarity to other viral proteins in the sequence databases.

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The complete genome of a tomato mild mottle virus (ToMMV) isolate was analysed, and some biological features were characterized. The ssRNA genome of ToMMV from Ethiopia encompasses 9283 nucleotides (excluding the 3' poly(A) tail) and encodes a polyprotein of 3011 amino acids. Phylogenetic and pairwise comparisons with other members of the family Potyviridae revealed that ToMMV is the most divergent member of the genus Ipomovirus, with a genome organization similar to that of members of the species Sweet potato mild mottle virus, the type species of the genus.

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Background: The associations between pathogens and their hosts are complex and can result from any combination of evolutionary events such as codivergence, switching, and duplication of the pathogen. Mycoviruses are RNA viruses which infect fungi and for which natural vectors are so far unknown. Thus, lateral transfer might be improbable and codivergence their dominant mode of evolution.

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