DNA complementary to the Y-terminal halves of RNA 1 of two strains of barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV) from Japan, BaMMV-Kal and BaMMV-Nal, was cloned and sequenced. The sequences start within a single long open reading frame (ORF), and are followed by 337 and 338 3' non-coding nucleotides, for BaMMV-Ka 1 and BaMMV-Nal respectively. The two strains have 88 % nucleotide identity in the ORFs and 92 % identity in the non-coding regions. The putative ORF products contain the capsid proteins at the C termini, as indicated by amino acid sequence analysis, and two putative non-structural proteins are arranged in the same manner as in RNA 1 of barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV). The deduced capsid proteins of BaMMV-Kal and BaMMV-Nal each contain 251 amino acids and have 94 % sequence identity, which is compatible with their close serological relationship. Most of the sequence differences between the two capsid proteins are found in the N-terminal region, and might explain their serological differences. Significant sequence similarities of the capsid proteins of the two BaMMV strains (37 and 35 % respectively) with that of BaYMV, and their marginal similarities (21 to 26 %) to the capsid proteins of aphid-borne or mite-borne potyviruses support the classification of BaMMV and BaYMV as distinct members of the same virus group, which is separate from the group(s) containing aphidborne or mite-borne potyviruses.