Biogeography and evolutionary history of two RNA viruses (arena and hantaviruses) in Africa
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
The joint project „Biogeography and evolutionary history of two RNA viruses (arena and hantaviruses) in Africa“ has been conducted within the framework of the “Memorandum of Understanding on Scientific Cooperation between the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Czech Science Foundation (GACR)”. Our consortium comprised the Department of Population Biology, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the Department of Virology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany, the Evolutionary Biology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium, and various African researchers. The partners provided complementary expertise in the areas of population genetics, evolutionary biology, virology, and fieldwork. We aimed to gain knowledge on the diversity, evolutionary history, host range, and geographical distribution of rodent-borne viruses in Eastern Africa. The project was focused on viruses of the genera Old-World Arenavirus (family Arenaviridae) and Hantavirus (family Bunyaviridae) due to their potential to cause hemorrhagic fever or pulmonary failure in humans. More than 4,000 specimens from a large spectrum of murines and shrews were screened for arena and/or hantaviruses using serological and molecular techniques. The specimens originated from Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Zambia. Seven new arenaviruses and one new hantavirus were discovered. The novel viruses from Ethiopia and Tanzania were studied in detail. The two new arenaviruses from Ethiopia, whose sequences were detected in Stenocephalemys albipes and Mastomys awashensis, clustered phylogenetically with Mobala virus that has been discovered in Praomys sp. in the Central African Republic. The new hantavirus was also detected in Stenocephalemys albipes and constitutes a tentative novel hantavirus species. We propose the name “Tigray virus” for this virus because it was found in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Arenavirus sequences detected in an Arvicanthis neumanni individual in Tanzania were related to Ippy virus, which was previously isolated from Arvicanthis sp. in Central African Republic. In addition, a tentative novel arenavirus species was detected in a large number of Mastomys natalensis mice from Gairo district of central Tanzania, for which we propose the name “Gairo virus”. Gairo virus was isolated in cell culture and its complete genomic sequence was determined by next generation sequencing. Surprisingly, the virus is not closely related with Morogoro virus that infects M. natalensis only 90 km south of Gairo, but clusters phylogenetically with Mobala-like viruses that infect non-M. natalensis host species in the Central African Republic and Ethiopia. Despite the evolutionary distance, Gairo virus shares basic ecological features with the other M. natalensisborne viruses Lassa and Morogoro. Thus, M. natalensis, carrying distantly related viruses even in the same geographical area, is a potent reservoir host for a variety of arenaviruses. In conclusion, this study supports a major role for rodents of the Praomyini tribe as hosts in the evolutionary history of arenaviruses and hantaviruses in Africa. In addition, our findings that (i) closely related arenaviruses (e.g. the Mobala-like viruses) are hosted by divergent rodent hosts (Stenocephalemys albipes, Mastomys awashensis, Mastomys natalensis, and Praomys sp.) and (ii) vice versa, divergent viruses (Gairo and Morogoro virus) are hosted by the same rodent species (M. natalensis) suggest that host-switching is a common scenario during arenavirus evolution.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
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High diversity of RNA viruses in rodents, Ethiopia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2012 Dec;18(12):2047-50
Meheretu Y, Cížková D, Těšíková J, Welegerima K, Tomas Z, Kidane D, Girmay K, Schmidt-Chanasit J, Bryja J, Günther S, Bryjová A, Leirs H, Goüy de Bellocq J
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Gairo virus, a novel arenavirus of the widespread Mastomys natalensis: Genetically divergent, but ecologically similar to Lassa and Morogoro viruses. Virology. 2015 Feb;476:249-56
Gryseels S, Rieger T, Oestereich L, Cuypers B, Borremans B, Makundi R, Leirs H, Günther S, Goüy de Bellocq J
