Beet black scorch virus is a Necrovirus found in the eighties in China, later on in the USA and Europe. Questions have been raised about its spatial distribution as well as on the risk of development of the black scorch disease similarly as rhizomania, since the virus is soil-borne transmitted by Olpidium brassicae. Based on extensive surveys in Iran, more than 60 positive samples out of 203 visited fields were analyzed. The diversity found within the targeted sequences obtained (coat protein gene, 3’UTR) compared to already known or published data support the hypothesis of a spread of the virus from Central Asia, therefore questioning the natural host range of the virus. Result obtained using full length clones regarding the pathogenicity of the virus and the production of the “black scorch” symptom, using either local lesion or systemic host plants like Chenopodium quinoa, Beta macrocarpa and Nicotiana benthamiana will also be displayed. The presence of numerous association of the virus with a satellite enhancing the symptom expression will be discussed as the structural conservation of the Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV)-like cap-independent translation element (BTE) lying in its 3′ untranslated region (UTR). Finally, the co-occurrence of BBSV with other soilborne viruses like Beet necrotic yellow vein virus, Beet soil-borne and Beet virus Q will also be evoked.

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