The evolution of emaraviruses is becoming more complex: seven segments identified in the causal agent of Rose rosette disease

Abstract

There are few examples of a plant disease as devastating as rose rosette, a disorder that could lead to total loss for the nursery industry and rosarians alike. Although described over 75 years ago, the causal agent of rose rosette remains elusive. Utilizing the bottleneck created during vector transmission and large scale sequencing it was determined that the causal agent of the disease is rose rosette virus (RRV), a member of the genus Emaravirus. The genome structure of emaraviruses displays significant fluidity and for this reason the genome composition of RRV was revisited, leading to the discovery of three additional segments, one of which is predicted to be bicistronic.

Keywords: Disease agent; Emaravirus; Evolution; Rose rosette.