A novel strategy for the determination of a rhabdovirus genome and its application to sequencing of Eggplant mottled dwarf virus

A novel strategy employing the rhabdovirus untranslated conserved intergenic regions was developed and applied successfully for the determination of the complete nucleotide sequence of Eggplant mottled dwarf virus (EMDV). The EMDV genome contains seven open reading frames with the same organization as Potato yellow dwarf virus (PYDV), the type species of the genus Nucleorhabdovirus. These two species encode five core genes [nucleocapsid (N), phosphoprotein (P), matrix (M), glycoprotein (G), and the polymerase (L)] like other viruses of the genus and an additional one (X), located between N and P, giving rise to a protein with currently unknown function. Furthermore, both EMDV and PYDV contain a gene (Y), inserted between P and M, which probably encodes the virus movement protein, in concordance with the rest of the plant-infecting rhabdoviruses. Phylogenetic analysis of the polymerase gene confirmed the classification of EMDV within the genus Nucleorhabdovirus and showed a close evolutionary relationship to PYDV. The novel sequencing strategy developed is a useful tool for the genome determination of yet uncharacterized rhabdoviruses.