Molecular phylogeny of mobatviruses (Hantaviridae) in Myanmar and Vietnam.

Arai S, Kikuchi F, Bawm S, Son NT, Lin KS, Tu VT, Aoki K, Tsuchiya K, Tanaka-Taya K, Morikawa S, Oishi K, Yanagihara R.

Citation

Arai S, Kikuchi F, Bawm S, Son NT, Lin KS, Tu VT, Aoki K, Tsuchiya K, Tanaka-Taya K, Morikawa S, Oishi K, Yanagihara R. (2019) Molecular phylogeny of mobatviruses (Hantaviridae) in Myanmar and Vietnam. Viruses 11(3). pii: E228

Abstract

The discovery of highly divergent lineages of hantaviruses (family Hantaviridae) in shrews, moles, and bats of multiple species raises the possibility that non-rodent hosts may have played a significant role in their evolutionary history. To further investigate this prospect, total RNA was extracted from RNAlater�®-preserved lung tissues of 277 bats (representing five families, 14 genera and 40 species), captured in Myanmar and Vietnam during 2013â?»2016. Hantavirus RNA was detected in two of 15 black-bearded tomb bats (Taphozous melanopogon) and two of 26 Pomona roundleaf bats (Hipposideros pomona) in Myanmar, and in three of six ashy leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros cineraceus) in Vietnam. Pair-wise alignment and comparison of coding regions of the S, M, and L segments of hantaviruses from Taphozous and Hipposideros bats revealed high nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarities to prototype L�¡ib�«n virus (LAIV) and Xu�¢n S�¡n virus (XSV), respectively. Phylogenetic analyses, generated by maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods, showed a geographic clustering of LAIV strains from China and Myanmar, but not of XSV strains from China and Vietnam. These findings confirm that the black-bearded tomb bat is the natural reservoir of LAIV, and that more than one species of Hipposideros bats can host XSV.