Enow Junior A, Lopes Ana M, Abrantes Joana, Esteves Pedro J, Rahman Masmudur M
Biodesign Center for Personalized Diagnostics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
Viruses. 2025 Aug 21;17(8):1145. doi: 10.3390/v17081145.
Myxoma virus (MYXV) is a leporipoxvirus that causes lethal disease in Leporids. Hares and rabbits belong to the Leporidae family and are believed to have had a common ancestor 12 million years ago. After seventy years of contact with European hares without causing mortalities or disease manifestation, a recombinant MYXV infected Iberian hares () causing high mortalities. Like all poxviruses, MYXV encodes a wealth of immune modulators required for successful virulence that also mediate host species jumping, for example, into hares. Here, we summarize the data of known MYXV immune modulators, their cellular functions, and their effects on European rabbits. Additionally, we suggest that the critical restrictions MYXV would encounter in colonizing a potentially new host species stem from their interactions with the host's innate immune environment. Lastly, we synthesize our understanding of some poxvirus genome architectural features that might have facilitated the host species jump of MYXV into hares from rabbits.
黏液瘤病毒（MYXV）是一种兔痘病毒，可在兔科动物中引发致命疾病。野兔和家兔属于兔科，据信它们在1200万年前拥有共同的祖先。在与欧洲野兔接触70年而未导致死亡或疾病表现后，一种重组黏液瘤病毒感染了伊比利亚野兔（），导致高死亡率。与所有痘病毒一样，黏液瘤病毒编码了大量成功实现毒力所需的免疫调节剂，这些调节剂也介导宿主物种跳跃，例如跳跃到家兔体内。在此，我们总结了已知的黏液瘤病毒免疫调节剂的数据、它们的细胞功能以及它们对欧洲家兔的影响。此外，我们认为黏液瘤病毒在定殖潜在新宿主物种时会遇到的关键限制源于它们与宿主先天免疫环境的相互作用。最后，我们综合了对一些痘病毒基因组结构特征的理解，这些特征可能促进了黏液瘤病毒从家兔跳跃到野兔的宿主物种转换。
