Complete genome sequence and molecular phylogeny of a newfound hantavirus harbored by the Doucet’s musk shrew (Crocidura douceti) in Guinea.

Gu SH, Nicolas V, Lalis A, Sathirapongsasuti N, Yanagihara R.

Citation

Gu SH, Nicolas V, Lalis A, Sathirapongsasuti N, Yanagihara R. (2013) Complete genome sequence and molecular phylogeny of a newfound hantavirus harbored by the Doucet’s musk shrew (Crocidura douceti) in Guinea. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 20:118-123.

Abstract

Elucidation of the molecular phylogeny of shrew-borne hantaviruses in sub-Saharan Africa has been hampered by the lack of full-length viral genomes. In this report, we present the complete genome analysis of a newfound hantavirus, designated Bowe virus, detected in ethanol-fixed intercostal muscle of a Doucet’s musk shrew (Crocidura douceti), captured in southwestern Guinea in February 2012. Full-length amino acid sequence comparison of the S-, M- and L-segment gene products revealed that Bowe virus differed by 24.1-53.4%, 17.0-59.9% and 14.6-39.7%, respectively, from all other representative rodent-, shrew- and mole-borne hantaviruses. Phylogenetic analysis, using maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods, under the GTR+I+G model of evolution, showed that Bowe virus shared a common ancestry with Tanganya virus, a hantavirus detected in the Therese’s shrew (Crocidura theresae) in Guinea. Whole genome analysis of many more hantaviruses from sub-Saharan Africa are needed to better clarify how the radiation of African shrews might have contributed to the phylogeography of hantaviruses.