Morphological characterization of hantavirus HV114 by electron microscopy.

OBJECTIVE

This study was sought to investigate the propagation and morphogenesis of a new strain of hantavirus, HV114.

METHODS

The urine of patient with epidemic hemorrhagic fever was inoculated to Vero E6 cells for the virus isolation. Electron microscopy was used to observe the isolated virus, HV114 and the variation of infected Vero E6 cells.

RESULTS

According to our observations, the size (90-120 nm) of HV114 is smaller than that reported previously as 110- 160 nm. While ribosome-like particles associated with virions originating from rodent hantaviruses were not observed in HV114, virion budding was exhibited. It suggests that the dumbbell-shaped particles may generated from the process of virion budding. The budding processes suggest that there are several sites for HV114 assembly and maturation, including the host endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi compartment and the host plasma membranes.

CONCLUSIONS

The HV114 isolated from the urine of the patient is differed from other hantaviruses which were isolated from rat organs. HV114 might undergo changes during the viral transmission process from rodents to humans.