Evidence of sympatric speciation of elderberry carlaviruses

Abstract

Five new carlaviruses infecting elderberry were characterized and tentatively named as elderberry virus A-E (ElVA-ElVE). Their genome organization is similar to that of other carlaviruses with size ranging from 8540 to 8628 nucleotides, excluding the polyadenylated tails. ElVA, ElVB and ElVD share a common ancestor as do ElVC and ElVE, indicating that speciation may be sympatric with all viruses having emerged in elderberry. Analyses of the carlavirus conserved domains indicate that the 2-oxoglutarate and Fe(II)-dependent oxygenase motifs are reliable indicators of virus phylogenetic classification with recombination playing a significant role in the evolution of the genus. A universal RT-PCR assay that detects all the elderberry carlaviruses and potentially other members of the genus has been developed. This tool can be used for research and regulatory purposes as elderberry cultivation is rapidly expanding to new areas where the viruses may be absent.

Keywords: Discovery; Evolution; Universal carlavirus detection.