Complete genome sequence of a novel narnavirus with inverted complementary termini from the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae isolate NJ471

Abstract A novel single-stranded (+ ss) RNA mycovirus, designated as Magnaporthe oryzae narnavirus 2 (MoNV2), was identified in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae isolate NJ471. MoNV2 has a genomic RNA fragment of 3,086 nucleotides, which contains a single open reading frame (ORF) that is predicted to encode an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). Genome sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analysis suggested that MoNV2 is a new member of the genus narnavirus in the family Narnaviridae. The 5' and 3' terminal sequences of the genomic RNA of MoNV2 have inverted complementarity and potentially form a panhandle structure, which is very rare in RNA viruses.