ANNOTATED SEQUENCE RECORD Bromus catharticus striate mosaic virus: a new mastrevirus infecting Bromus catharticus from Australia James Hadfield • Darren P. Martin • Daisy Stainton • Simona Kraberger • Betty E. Owor • Dionne N. Shepherd • Francisco Lakay • Peter G. Markham • Ray S. Greber • Rob W. Briddon • Arvind Varsani Received: 12 August 2010 / Accepted: 20 November 2010 / Published online: 12 December 2010 Ó Springer-Verlag 2010 Abstract Although monocotyledonous-plant-infecting mastreviruses (in the family Geminiviridae) are known to cause economically significant crop losses in certain areas of the world, in Australia, they pose no obvious threat to agriculture. Consequently, only a few Australian monocot- infecting mastreviruses have been described, and only two have had their genomes fully sequenced. Here, we present the third full-genome sequence of an Australian monocot- infecting mastrevirus from Bromus catharticus belonging to a distinct species, which we have tentatively named Bromus catharticus striate mosaic virus (BCSMV). Although the genome of this new virus shares only 57.7% sequence similarity with that of its nearest known relative, Digitaria didactyla striate mosaic virus (DDSMV; also from Australia), it has features typical of all other known mastrevirus genomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that both the full genome and each of its probable expressed proteins group with the two other characterised Australian monocot-infecting mastreviruses. Besides the BCSMV genome sequence revealing that Australian monocot- infecting mastrevirus diversity rivals that seen in Africa, it has enabled us, for the first, to time detect evidence of recombination amongst the Australian viruses. Specifically, it appears that DDSMV possesses a short intergenic region sequence that has been recombinationally derived from either BCSMV or a close relative that has not yet been identified. The members of the virus family Geminiviridae uniquely possess circular, single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genomes that are encapsidated within twinned quasi-isometric (‘geminate’) virions [21]. There are currently four estab- lished geminivirus genera: Mastrevirus, Begomovirus, Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00705-010-0872-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. J. Hadfield Á D. Stainton Á S. Kraberger Á A. Varsani (&) School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand e-mail: arvind.varsani@canterbury.ac.nz D. P. Martin Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town 7925, South Africa B. E. Owor Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK D. N. Shepherd Á F. Lakay Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa P. G. Markham Department of Disease and Stress Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK R. S. Greber Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Maroochy Horticulture Research Station, Nambour, QLD, Australia R. W. Briddon National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Jhang Road, P.O. Box 577, Faisalabad, Pakistan A. Varsani Electron Microscope Unit, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa 123 Arch Virol (2011) 156:335–341 DOI 10.1007/s00705-010-0872-0