Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Museum Support Center MRC-534, Smithsonian Institution, 4210 Silver Hill Rd., Suitland, MD 20746, USA; One Health Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA; Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History, 10th St NE & Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA; Department of Medical Microbiology, Virology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Museum Support Center MRC-534, Smithsonian Institution, 4210 Silver Hill Rd., Suitland, MD 20746, USA; One Health Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA; Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History, 10th St NE & Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA.
Infect Genet Evol. 2024 Jul;121:105593. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2024.105593. Epub 2024 Apr 16.
Members of the Orthonairovirus genus (family Nairoviridae) include many tick-borne viruses of significant human and animal health impact, with several recently-documented pathogenic viruses lacking sufficient epidemiological information. We screened 215 adult ticks of seven species collected in Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia and Poland for orthonairoviruses, followed by nanopore sequencing (NS) for genome characterization. Initial generic amplification revealed Sulina virus (SULV, Orthonairovirus sulinaense), for which an updated amplification assay was used, revealing an overall prevalence of 2.7% in Ixodes ricinus ticks from Latvia. Three complete and additional partial SULV genomes were generated, that consistently formed a separate, distinct clade with further intragroup divergence in the maximum likelihood analyses. Comparisons with previously described viruses from Romania exhibited similar genome topologies, albeit with divergent motifs and cleavage sites on the glycoprotein precursor. Preliminary evidence of recombination involving the S segment was documented, in addition to variations in predicted viral glycoproteins. Generic screening further identified Tacheng tick virus 1 (TCTV1, Orthonairovirus tachengense), with documented human infections, in Dermacentor reticulatus ticks from Poland, with a prevalence of 0.9%. Subsequent NS and assembly provided the first complete TCTV1 genome outside of China, where it was originally described. Phylogenetic analysis of virus genome segments revealed TCTV1-Poland as a discrete taxon within the TCTV1 cluster in the Orthonairovirus genus, representing a geographically segregated clade. Comparable genome topology with TCTV1 from China was observed, aside from minor variations in the M segment. Similar to SULV, TCTV1 exhibited several mismatches on previously described screening primer binding sites, likely to prevent amplification. These findings indicate presence of novel TCTV1 and SULV clades in Eastern Europe, confirming the expansion of orthonairoviruses with pathogenic potential.
节肢动物病毒属（纳罗病毒科）的成员包括许多对人类和动物健康有重大影响的蜱传病毒，其中一些最近有记录的致病性病毒缺乏足够的流行病学信息。我们对在保加利亚、格鲁吉亚、拉脱维亚和波兰采集的 7 种成年蜱进行了筛选，以寻找正粘病毒，随后进行纳米孔测序（NS）进行基因组特征分析。初步通用扩增显示出苏利纳病毒（SULV，节肢动物病毒属苏利纳病毒），为此我们使用了更新的扩增检测方法，结果表明拉脱维亚的蓖子硬蜱的总体流行率为 2.7%。我们生成了三个完整的和另外部分的 SULV 基因组，它们在最大似然分析中始终形成一个单独的、不同的分支，并且在组内进一步发生分化。与罗马尼亚描述的先前病毒相比，这些病毒的基因组拓扑结构相似，但糖蛋白前体上的模体和裂解位点不同。除了预测的病毒糖蛋白的变化外，还记录了涉及 S 片段的初步重组证据。通用筛选还在波兰的硬蜱中发现了塔城蜱病毒 1（TCTV1，节肢动物病毒属塔城病毒），该病毒已被记录有人体感染，其流行率为 0.9%。随后的 NS 和组装提供了最初在中国描述的 TCTV1 之外的第一个完整的 TCTV1 基因组。病毒基因组片段的系统发育分析显示，TCTV1-波兰是节肢动物病毒属中的 TCTV1 聚类内的一个离散分类群，代表一个地理上隔离的分支。与中国的 TCTV1 观察到类似的基因组拓扑结构，除了 M 片段的微小变化外。与 SULV 类似，TCTV1 在先前描述的筛选引物结合位点上存在几个不匹配，可能会阻止扩增。这些发现表明，新型 TCTV1 和 SULV 分支存在于东欧，证实了具有潜在致病性的正粘病毒的扩展。
