Sequence Relationships of RNA Helicases and Other Proteins Encoded by Blunervirus RNAs Highlight Recombinant Evolutionary Origin of Kitaviral Genomes
Sergey Y. Morozov, Ekaterina A. Lazareva, Andrey G. Solovyev
Abstract
The family Kitaviridae includes a small number of positive-stranded RNA plant viruses. Interestingly, this family name is not derived from the name of the type virus member, as usually, but from the family name of Dr. Elliot Watanabe Kitajima, a prominent virologist participating in kitavirus studies Members of the kitavirus genera Blunervirus, Cilevirus, and Higrevirus produce in planta bacilliform (or near spherical) virus particles and have multipartite genomes composed of two, three, or four RNAs for cile-, higre-and bluner-viruses, respectively. In addition to common particle morphology, most viruses share some important biological peculiarities, such as lack of systemic movement