Evolutionary insights from a genetically divergent hantavirus harbored by the European common mole (Talpa europaea).

ABSTRACT:

Background

The discovery of genetically distinct hantaviruses in shrews (Order Soricomorpha, Family Soricidae) from widely separated geographic regions challenges the hypothesis that rodents (Order Rodentia, Family Muridae and Cricetidae) are the primordial reservoir hosts of hantaviruses and also predicts that other soricomorphs harbor hantaviruses. Recently, novel hantavirus genomes have been detected in moles of the Family Talpidae, including the Japanese shrew mole (Urotrichus talpoides) and American shrew mole (Neurotrichus gibbsii). We present new insights into the evolutionary history of hantaviruses gained from a highly divergent hantavirus, designated Nova virus (NVAV), identified in the European common mole (Talpa europaea) captured in Hungary.

Methodology/principal fi

SUBMITTER: Kang HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2702001 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature