Over 200 BNYVV infested iranian soils have been investigated for the presence of Beet black scorch virus and its satellite, using soil bioassays and RT-PCR. Such survey allowed to evidence up to 61 different Iranian BBSB sources, a large number of which were associated with the satellite. To our knowledge, this is the first large survey for this soil-borne necrovirus species. Such approach allowed to perceive the diversity of BBSV over a large territory like Iran, as well as allowing to find new virus & satellite sources. Full length clones of BBSV were generated by simply amplifying the viral genome before cloning into the pDrive vector (Qiagen) before generating infectious RNA transcripts. Six different BBSV and four BBSV satellite sources have been fully sequenced and compared with respectively, the four virus genomes and three satellites already available.

Keywords