Complete genome sequence of a novel isolate of Victorivirus nijyusani infecting Botrytis cinerea strain G20-5 associated with strawberry gray mold.

In the study, a novel isolate of Victorivirus nijyusani was isolated from Botrytis cinerea strain G20-5, a causal agent of strawberry gray mold, and tentatively named Botrytis cinerea victorivirus 4 (BcVV4). BcVV4 has a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) of 5135 bp long and contains two open reading frames (ORFs) 1 and 2, which overlap in the AUGA sequence. They are predicted to encode a coat protein (CP) of 756-amino acid (aa) with a molecular weight of 80.2 kDa, and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of 850-aa with a molecular weight of 93.3 kDa, respectively. The aa sequence of CP encoded by ORF1 and RdRp encoded by ORF2 of BcVV4 exhibited the highest identity (77.48% and 73.26%) with those of Sclerotinia nivalis victorivirus 1 (SnVV1). Based on the phylogenetic analysis of aa sequence of RdRp, BcVV4 formed a distinct lineage within the genus Victorivirus. Taken together, BcVV4 is a novel isolate of the species Victorivirus nijyusani infecting B. cinerea, which belongs to the genus Victorivirus within the family Pseudototiviridae.