Characterisation of divergent flavivirus NS3 and NS5 protein sequences detected in Rhipicephalus microplus ticks from Brazil.

ABSTRACT: Transcripts similar to those that encode the nonstructural (NS) proteins NS3 and NS5 from flaviviruses were found in a salivary gland (SG) complementary DNA (cDNA) library from the cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus. Tick extracts were cultured with cells to enable the isolation of viruses capable of replicating in cultured invertebrate and vertebrate cells. Deep sequencing of the viral RNA isolated from culture supernatants provided the complete coding sequences for the NS3 and NS5 proteins and their molecular characterisation confirmed similarity with the NS3 and NS5 sequences from other flaviviruses. Despite this similarity, phylogenetic analyses revealed that this potentially novel virus may be a highly divergent member of the genus Flavivirus. Interestingly, we detected the divergent

SUBMITTER: Maruyama SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4005522 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature