The genome of a new carlavirus isolate from asymptomatic wild Capparis spinosa L. plants in Sicily was sequenced via high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and 5'/3' RACE experiments. The complete genomic sequence was found to be 8,280 nt in length, excluding the poly(A) tail, and contained five putative open reading frames (ORFs). Molecular characterization revealed a close relationship to caper latent virus (CapLV), with 87% and 90% nucleotide sequence identity to available partial sequences of the ORFs encoding the replicase and coat protein of that virus. According to the molecular criteria for species demarcation, which is based on the ORF-1- and ORF-5-encoded proteins, the virus characterized in this study could be considered a variant of CapLV, and we have thus designated it as CapLV-W.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.