Grapevine virus E (GVE) and Grapevine virus F (GVF), two members of the genus Vitivirus in the family Betaflexiviridae have a genome organization similar to that of other grapevine vitiviruses associated with rugose wood disease (Al Rawhnih et al., 2014). This disease is very common in Tunisian vineyards and associated with viruses such as grapevine virus A, grapevine virus B, grapevine virus D and grapevine Rupestris stem pitting-associated virus (Mahfoudhi et al., 2014). No information is available on the presence of GVE and GVF in Tunisian grapevines. To address the occurrence of GVE and GVF in Tunisian grapevinegrowing areas, a survey was conducted and dormant canes from 403 plants were collected. All samples were tested by RT-PCR for the presence of GVE and GVF using specific primers for the amplification of 327 bp and 217 bp fragments for GVE and GVF, respectively (Alabi et al., 2013; Jooste et al., 2015). Results showed that 7% and 22% of the tested samples were infected by GVE and GVF, respectively. To confirm the identity of these viruses, two isolates of GVE and one isolate of GVF were sequenced and sequences were compared with those available in GenBank. The nucleotide sequences of two GVE Tunisian isolates CR08125 (LT860201) and GN12194 (LT860202) showed identities of 97-99% with GVE isolates SA94 (GU903012) and TvAQ7 (AB432910), respectively. For GVF, Tunisian isolate Tun63 (LT860203) shared 93% nucleotide identity with the isolate AUD46129 (JX105428). To our knowledge this is the first report of GVE and GVF in Tunisian grapevines.
