Analysis of French Poaceae pools collected in 2023 identified spartina mottle virus (SpMV, Phragmivirus spartinae) infection in green foxtail (Setaria viridis). RNASeq of two plants yielded near complete SpMV genomes and a complete barley yellow striate mosaic virus genome (BYSMV, Betacytorhabdovirus hordei). The novel SpMV genomes show only 79.3-80.4% nt identity with those of German and USA isolates (92-92.6% aa identity), while the BYSMV sequence is 94% identical with the only complete BYSMV genome available. Besides providing novel information of the genetic variability of these two viruses, these results extend the known natural host range and distribution of SpMV.
Candresse et al. (Thu,) studied this question.