A viral genome was assembled de novo from next-generation sequencing (NGS) data from bean bugs， Riptortus pedestris， infected with an entomopathogenic fungus， Beauveria bassiana (Bb)， and was further confirmed via the RACE method. This is a novel insect positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus， which we named Riptortus pedestris virus-1 (RiPV-1) (GenBank accession no. KU958718). The genome of RiPV-1 consists of 10，554 nucleotides (nt)， excluding the poly(A) tail， which contains a single large open reading frame (ORF) of 10，371 nt encoding a polyprotein (3456 aa) and flanked by 71 and 112 nt at the 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTR)， respectively. RiPV-1 genome organization from the 5' end ... More
A viral genome was assembled de novo from next-generation sequencing (NGS) data from bean bugs， Riptortus pedestris， infected with an entomopathogenic fungus， Beauveria bassiana (Bb)， and was further confirmed via the RACE method. This is a novel insect positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus， which we named Riptortus pedestris virus-1 (RiPV-1) (GenBank accession no. KU958718). The genome of RiPV-1 consists of 10，554 nucleotides (nt)， excluding the poly(A) tail， which contains a single large open reading frame (ORF) of 10，371 nt encoding a polyprotein (3456 aa) and flanked by 71 and 112 nt at the 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTR)， respectively. RiPV-1 genome organization from the 5' end contains a consensus organization of picorna-like RNA virus helicase， cysteine protease， and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp)， in addition to two putative structural proteins located at the 3' region and a poly(A) tail at the 3' end. The viral particles were approximately 30nm in diameter with some dispersal distinctive surface projections. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the RdRp sequences， RiPV-1 was clustered in the unassigned insect RNA viruses with two other viruses， APV and KFV. These three viruses were suggested to constitute a new group of insect RNA viruses. RiPV-1 could be found in all stages of lab-reared bean bugs and was detected abundantly in the thorax， abdomen， midgut and fat body， but not in the reproductive organs and muscle. Interestingly， RiPV-1 replication was increased dramatically in bean bugs 2-6days after fungal infection. In conclusion， a novel insect RNA virus was found by NGS data assembly. This virus can provide further insight into the interaction between virus， fungus and the host.
