Complete Genome Sequences of Two Chinese Beet soil‐borne virus Isolates Provide Evidence that the Genome is Highly Conserved

Abstract

AbstractThe complete nucleotide sequences of two Chinese isolates of Beet soil‐borne virus (BSBV) from the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang provinces (designated BSBV‐IM and BSBV‐XJ, respectively) were found to share around 99% sequence identity with that of a previously reported German isolate (BSBV‐G). The genome organization of the three isolates was identical. A diversity index (Pi) analysis indicated that the overall nucleotide variability of all RNAs among the three isolates was <7%, only for the 5′ part of the first triple gene block gene on RNA3 was it >6%. Although the 3′ end of BSBV RNA 3 was previously reported to be highly variable, the results of this study show that the total BSBV genomes are considerably conserved, especially RNAs 1 and 2.