Defective RNAs of Citrus tristeza virus analogous to Crinivirus genomic RNAs.

The family Closteroviridae includes the genera Closterovirus and Ampelovirus with monopartite genomes and the genus Crinivirus with bipartite genomes. Plants infected with the Closterovirus, Citrus tristeza virus (CTV), often contain one or more populations of defective RNAs (dRNAs). Although most dRNAs are comparatively small (2-5 kb) consisting of the genomic RNA termini with large internal deletions, we recently characterized large dRNAs of approximately 12 kb that retained the open reading frames (ORFs) 1a plus 1b. These were self-replicating RNAs and appeared to be analogous to the genomic RNA 1 of the bipartite criniviruses. The present report describes the finding of an additional group of large dRNAs (LdRNAs) that retained all or most of the 10 3' ORFs and appeared to be analogous to genomic RNA 2 of criniviruses. Isolates associated with LdRNAs were found associated with double-recombinant dRNAs (DR-dRNAs) of various sizes (1.7 to 5.1 kb) that comprised the two termini and a noncontiguous internal sequence from ORF2. The genetic and epidemiological implications of the architectural identities of LdRNAs and DR dRNAs and their apparent analogy with the genomic RNA 2 of criniviruses are discussed.