Editorial: The Border Between Kitavirids and Nege-Like Viruses: Tracking the Evolutionary Pace of Plant- and Arthropod-Infecting Viruses

Abstract

Since the disclosure of the citrus leprosis virus C (CiLV-C) genome and the creation of the family Kitaviridae, viruses of the eight accepted species within three genera of kitavirids have become intriguing pieces of the plant-infecting virome. With genomes split into two, three, or four singlestranded (+) RNA molecules, most of the kitaviruses produce non-systemic infections that, in the case of citrus leprosis disease, entail serious economic losses to the citrus crop. Phylogenetic analyses based on the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase proteins indicate that kitavirus closest relatives are a group of unclassified arthropod-infecting viruses tentatively known as negeviruses and nege/kita-like viruses.