Novel sugarcane streak and sugarcane streak Reunion mastreviruses from southern Africa and La Réunion.

Abstract

The sugarcane infecting streak viruses (SISVs) are mastreviruses (Family Geminiviridae) belonging to a group of ‘‘African streak viruses’’ (AfSVs) that includes the economically devastating Maize streak virus (MSV). Although there are three currently described SISV species (Sugarcane streak virus [SSV], Sugarcane streak Egypt virus [SSEV] and Sugarcane streak Re´union virus [SSRV]), only one strain variant has been fully sequenced for each of these species and as a result very little is known about the diversity and evolutionary origins of the SCISVs. Here we present annotated full genome sequences of four new SISV isolates, including a new strain of both SSRV and SSV, and one potentially new SISV species, sampled from wild grasses in La Re´union and Zimbabwe. For the first time, we report the finding of SSRV isolates in Zimbabwe and SSV isolates on the island of La Re´union. Phylogenetic and recombination analyses indicate continent-wide SSRV strain diversity and that our isolate potentially representing a new SISV species is a recombinant.