The complete nucleotide sequence of an infectious clone of soybean chlorotic mottle virus (SoyCMV) DNA was determined and compared with those of three other caulimoviruses, cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), carnation etched ring virus and figwort mosaic virus. The double-stranded DNA genome of SoyCMV (8,175 bp) contained nine open reading frames (ORFs) and one large intergenic region. The primer binding sites, gene organization and size of ORFs were similar to those of the other caulimoviruses, except for ORF I, which was split into ORF Ia and Ib. The amino acid sequences deduced from each ORF showed only short, highly homologous regions in several of the corresponding ORFs of the three other caulimoviruses. A promoter fragment of 378 bp in SoyCMV ORF III showed a strong expression activity, comparable to that of the CaMV 35S promoter, in tobacco mesophyll protoplasts as determined by a beta-glucuronidase assay using electrotransfection. The fragment contained CAAT and TATA boxes but no transcriptional enhancer signal as reported for the CaMV 35S promoter. Instead, it had sequences homologous to a part of the translational enhancer signal reported for the 5'-leader sequence of tobacco mosaic virus RNA.
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