Detection of new vitiviruses infecting grapevine in California

Recently, five new viruses from the genus Vitivirus were identified and named grapevine virus G, H, I, J and L. These viruses were targeted in a survey to evaluate their prevalence in different grapevine populations in California. Excluding a single detection of GVJ, other vitiviruses were detected infecting several grapevine selections via RT-PCR and later confirmed by sequencing. This paper represents the first report of GVG, GVH and GVI in California. In a preliminary analysis, the sequence diversity between identified isolates of GVG, GVH, GVI and GVL was investigated using distance matrices and phylogenetics. Finally, coinfections involving diverse vitiviruses and leafroll viruses were evidenced.