Characterization of Tulip Streak Virus, a Novel Virus Associated with the Family

In Japan, tulip-growing areas have been plagued by viral diseases for decades, but the viruses causing the damage remain undescribed. In this study, and plants mechanically inoculated with crude sap from a symptomatic tulip flower exhibited necrosis symptoms. Additionally, flexuous and filamentous virus particles were detected by electron microscopy analysis. Moreover, we determined the complete sequences of two genomic segments of the tulip streak virus (TuSV), which is a new virus associated with streaking symptoms, on the basis of a next-generation sequencing analysis. Homology analyses of the amino acid sequence of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and the terminal sequence of the genomic RNA indicated that TuSV is associated with viruses in the family , but differs substantially from other reported viruses.