Potexvirus

Potexvirus is a genus of pathogenic viruses in the order Tymovirales, in the family Alphaflexiviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are currently 37 species in this genus including the type species Potato virus X. Diseases associated with this genus include: mosaic and ringspot symptoms. The genus name comes from the type species POTato Virus X). Potexvirus is a genus of pathogenic viruses in the order Tymovirales, in the family Alphaflexiviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are currently 37 species in this genus including the type species Potato virus X. Diseases associated with this genus include: mosaic and ringspot symptoms. The genus name comes from the type species POTato Virus X). The virion length may vary considerably (between 470-1000 nanometers or more) and is 12-13 nm in diameter. The pitch of the helix is of the basic helix 3.3-3.7 nm (8-9 copies of the coat protein per turn). It is non-enveloped, flexuous and filamentous. The coat itself is composed of 1000-1500 copies of the coat protein. The genome is linear, 5.9-7 kilobases in length with a capped 5' end and a polyadenylated 3' end. The genome encodes 5 proteins. From left to right these proteins are: the viral replication protein that consists of a capping enzyme domain, a helicase-like domain, the RNA dependent RNA polymerase, three proteins - the triple gene block (TGB) 1, 2 and 3 - and the coat protein.