Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, PR China.
Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China.
J Gen Virol. 2021 Apr;102(4). doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.001586.
The identification of SARS-CoV-2-like viruses in Malayan pangolins () has focused attention on these endangered animals and the viruses they carry. We successfully isolated a novel respirovirus from the lungs of a dead Malayan pangolin. Similar to murine respirovirus, the full-length genome of this novel virus was 15 384 nucleotides comprising six genes in the order 3'-(leader)-NP-P-M-F-HN-l-(trailer)-5'. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this virus belongs to the genus and is most closely related to murine respirovirus. Notably, animal infection experiments indicated that the pangolin virus is highly pathogenic and transmissible in mice, with inoculated mice having variable clinical symptoms and a fatality rate of 70.37 %. The virus was found to replicate in most tissues with the exception of muscle and heart. Contact transmission of the virus was 100 % efficient, although the mice in the contact group displayed milder symptoms, with the virus mainly being detected in the trachea and lungs. The isolation of a novel respirovirus from the Malayan pangolin provides new insight into the evolution and distribution of this important group of viruses and again demonstrates the potential infectious disease threats faced by endangered pangolins.
在马来穿山甲（）中鉴定出的 SARS-CoV-2 样病毒引起了人们对这些濒危动物及其携带的病毒的关注。我们成功地从一只死亡的马来穿山甲的肺部分离出一种新型呼肠孤病毒。与鼠呼肠孤病毒相似，该新型病毒的全长基因组为 15384 个核苷酸，包含 6 个基因，顺序为 3'-(leader)-NP-P-M-F-HN-l-(trailer)-5'。系统进化分析表明，该病毒属于属，与鼠呼肠孤病毒最为密切相关。值得注意的是，动物感染实验表明，穿山甲病毒在小鼠中具有高致病性和传染性，接种小鼠出现不同程度的临床症状，死亡率为 70.37%。病毒在大多数组织中复制，除肌肉和心脏外。病毒的接触传播效率为 100%，尽管接触组的小鼠症状较轻，病毒主要在气管和肺部检测到。从马来穿山甲中分离出一种新型呼肠孤病毒，为研究这一重要病毒群的进化和分布提供了新的视角，并再次表明濒危穿山甲面临潜在的传染病威胁。
