Citations 2
The Unique Phylogenetic Position of a Novel Tick-Borne Phlebovirus Ensures an Ixodid Origin of the Genus Phlebovirus
Nao, Naganori, Mori‐Kajihara, Akina, Muramatsu, Mieko, Qiu, Yongjin , Torii, Shiho , Igarashi, Manabu , Kasajima, Nodoka, Mizuma, Keita, Yoshii, Kentaro , Sugimoto, Chihiro , Takada, Ayato , Matsuno, Keita , Ebihara, Hideki , Kajihara, Masahiro , Nakao, Ryo , Sawa, Hirofumi , Ebihara, Hideki
mSphere | June 12, 2018 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 3 | Pages: No page available
The emergence of novel tick-borne RNA viruses causing severe illness in humans has complicated the epidemiological landscape of tick-borne diseases, requiring further investigation to safeguard public health. In the present study, we discovered a novel tick-borne phlebovirus from Ixodes persulcatus ticks in Japan. While its viral RNA genome sequences were similar to those of mosquito/sandfly-borne viruses, molecular and biological footprints confirmed that this is a tick-borne virus. The unique evolutionary position of the virus allowed us to estimate the ancestral phlebovirus vector, which was likely a hard tick. Our findings may provide a better understanding of the evolution and emergence of phleboviruses associated with emerging infectious diseases, such as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) and Heartland virus disease.
Implementation of Objective PASC-Derived Taxon Demarcation Criteria for Official Classification of Filoviruses
Bào, Yīmíng , Basler, Christopher F. , Bavari, Sina , Bukreyev, Alexander , Chandran, Kartik , Dolnik, Olga , Dye, John M. , Ebihara, Hideki , Formenty, Pierre , Hewson, Roger , Kobinger, Gary , Leroy, Eric M. , Mühlberger, Elke , Sv, Netesov , Patterson, Jean L. , Smither, Sophie J. , Takada, Ayato , Volchkov, Viktor E. , Wahl‐Jensen, Victoria , Kuhn, Jens H. , Amarasinghe, Gaya K. , Paweska, Janusz Tadeusz , Towner, Jonathan S. , Ebihara, Hideki , Mühlberger, Elke
Viruses | May 11, 2017 | Volume: 9 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 106
The mononegaviral family Filoviridae has eight members assigned to three genera and seven species. Until now, genus and species demarcation were based on arbitrarily chosen filovirus genome sequence divergence values (≈50% for genera, ≈30% for species) and arbitrarily chosen phenotypic virus or virion characteristics. Here we report filovirus genome sequence-based taxon demarcation criteria using the publicly accessible PAirwise Sequencing Comparison (PASC) tool of the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (Bethesda, MD, USA). Comparison of all available filovirus genomes in GenBank using PASC revealed optimal genus demarcation at the 55–58% sequence diversity threshold range for genera and at the 23–36% sequence diversity threshold range for species. Because these thresholds do not change the current official filovirus classification, these values are now implemented as filovirus taxon demarcation criteria that may solely be used for filovirus classification in case additional data are absent. A near-complete, coding-complete, or complete filovirus genome sequence will now be required to allow official classification of any novel “filovirus.” Classification of filoviruses into existing taxa or determining the need for novel taxa is now straightforward and could even become automated using a presented algorithm/flowchart rooted in RefSeq (type) sequences.