Tenuivirus

Tenuivirus a name of genera of plant viruses. The type member is "Rice Stripe Virus." Other members of this genera include "Maize Stripe Virus," "Rice Hoja Blanca Virus'," and "Iranian Wheat Strip Virus." These plant viruses cause diseases in their host plants. Typical symptoms are chlorotic stripes on the affected leaves. The virion particle consists of nucleocapsids that exhibit helical symmetry. The nucleocapsids are segmented and consist of either four or five spieces of single stranded RNA and the N-protein. These viruses are transmitted by an arthropod vectors in the families Cicadellidae or Delphacidae.

Tenuivirus has close phylogenic relationship with members of Tospoviridae, the virions of which are bounded with an envelope. Tenuivirus encodes a membrane protein precursor that is homologue to the virion envelope protein of Tospoviridae, although no envelope was found to associate with Tenuivirus virion. The status of Tenuivirus is not determined. Tenuivirus genome is segmented. It has an ambisense coding strategy.