COMPLETE GENOMIC CHARACTERIZATION OF EGGPLANT MOTTLED DWARF VIRUS FROM AGAPANTHUS sp BY DEEP SEQUENCING AND DE NOVO ASSEMBLY

Bright mosaic, consisting of white and yellow rectangular or oval to linear patches and stripes, often confluent, was observed on Agapanthus leaves, flower stalks and buds in Italy. To identify and characterize the causal agent, deep-sequencing was carried out and the resulting sequences were assembled. De novo assembly of contigs, along with RACE experiments, resulted in the complete RNA molecule of 13,100 nt sharing 85.6% identical nucleotides with the genome of Eggplant mottled dwarf virus (EMDV). Sequence analysis and comparisons of the Agapanthus isolate of EMDV showed five conserved motifs in the L gene, which are localized in the N-terminal region (amino acid no. 531 to 770).