Highly Divergent Genetic Variants of Soricid-Borne Altai Virus (Hantaviridae) in Eurasia Suggest Ancient Host-Switching Events.

ABSTRACT: With the recent discovery of genetically distinct hantaviruses (family Hantaviridae) in shrews (order Eulipotyphla, family Soricidae), the once-conventional view that rodents (order Rodentia) served as the primordial reservoir hosts now appears improbable. The newly identified soricid-borne hantaviruses generally demonstrate well-resolved lineages organized according to host taxa and geographic origin. However, beginning in 2007, we detected sequences that did not conform to the prototypic hantaviruses associated with their soricid host species and/or geographic locations. That is, Eurasian common shrews (Sorexaraneus), captured in Hungary and Russia, were found to harbor hantaviruses belonging to two separate and highly divergent lineages. We have since accumulated ad

SUBMITTER: Kang HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6783933 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature