The Grapevine virus A (GVA) is associated with the Kober stem grooving disease, which is part of the grapevine (Vitis spp.) rugose wood complex. In this work, a Brazilian isolate of GVA (GVA-RS) was characterized biologically by mechanical transmission to five herbaceous hosts, by grafting on Kober 5BB grapevine indicator and by serology. Total RNA was extracted from infected grapevine cv Pirovano 65. For a reverse transcribed polymerase chain reaction, two sets of primers were used, resulting in two partially overlapping DNA fragments of 430 and 451 base pairs. The coat protein gene sequence of GVA-RS with 597 nucleotides and 198 deduced amino acids with a predicted Mr of 21.6 kDa, was aligned with those of other viral isolates. The nucleotide and the amino acid sequences of GVA-RS were closest in identity to an Italian isolate, 91.4% and 95.4%, respectively. The GVA-RS exhibited a strong divergence to the vitiviruses Vitivirus Heracleum latent virus (HLV), Grapevine virus B (GVB) and Grapevine virus D (GVD), displaying nucleotide identity of 76% - 83.1%.
