Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent research results strongly suggest that certain genetic variants of grapevine virus A (GVA) and grapevine virus B (GVB), two members of the Vitivirus genus of the family Betaflexiviridae, are the cause of Shiraz disease and corky bark disease of grapevines in South Africa, respectively. To investigate this hypothesis, work was undertaken to construct DNA clones of these viruses. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS: Biologically viable and stable DNA clones of genetic variants of GVA and GVB B from South Africa were constructed. The clones share 76.3, 73.2 and 85.2, 77.6 % nt sequence similarity with corresponding clones constructed in Italy and Israel. The results suggest that a derivative of a mini binary vector pCB302 is superior to pCAMBIA1305.1 for the construction of infectious and stable DNA clones of vitiviruses. Successful construction of such DNA clones of GVA and GVB reported in this study is a clear step towards fulfilling Koch's 3rd postulate in investigating the aetiology of Shiraz disease and corky bark disease.