Gill-associated nidovirus of Penaeus monodon prawns transcribes 3'-coterminal subgenomic mRNAs that do not possess 5'-leader sequences

Sequence analysis of the approximately 20 kb 5'-terminal portion of the ssRNA genome of gill-associated virus (GAV) of Penaeus monodon prawns has previously established that it contains an ORF1a-1b replicase gene equivalent to those of the coronavirus and arterivirus members of the order Nidovirales. Sequence analysis of the remaining approximately 6.2 kb of the GAV genome downstream of ORF1a-1b to a 3'-poly(A) tail has identified two highly conserved intergenic sequences in which 29/32 nucleotides are conserved. Northern hybridization using probes to the four putative GAV ORFs and either total or poly(A)-selected RNA identified two 3'-coterminal subgenomic (sg) mRNAs of approximately 6 kb and approximately 5.5 kb. Primer extension and 5'-RACE analyses showed that the sgmRNAs initiate at the same 5'-AC positions in the central region of the two conserved intergenic sequences. Neither method provided any evidence that the GAV sgmRNAs are fused to genomic 5'-leader RNA sequences as is the case with vertebrate coronaviruses and arteriviruses. Intracellular double-stranded (ds)RNAs equivalent in size to the 26.2 kb genomic RNA and two sgRNAs were also identified by RNase/DNase digestion of total RNA from GAV-infected prawn tissue. The identification of only two sgmRNAs that initiate at the same position in conserved intergenic sequences and the absence of 5'-genomic leader sequences fused to these sgmRNAs confirms that GAV has few genes and suggests that it utilizes a transcription mechanism possibly similar to the vertebrate toroviruses but distinct from coronaviruses and arteriviruses.