Moussa virus: a new member of the Rhabdoviridae family isolated from Culex decens mosquitoes in Côte d'Ivoire

Virus Res. 2010 Jan;147(1):17-24. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2009.09.013. Epub 2009 Oct 3.

Abstract

Characterization of arboviruses at the interface of pristine habitats and anthropogenic landscapes is crucial to comprehensive emergent disease surveillance and forecasting efforts. In context of a surveillance campaign in and around a West African rainforest, particles morphologically consistent with rhabdoviruses were identified in cell cultures infected with homogenates of trapped mosquitoes. RNA recovered from these cultures was used to derive the first complete genome sequence of a rhabdovirus isolated from Culex decens mosquitoes in Côte d'Ivoire, tentatively named Moussa virus (MOUV). MOUV shows the classical genome organization of rhabdoviruses, with five open reading frames (ORF) in a linear order. However, sequences show only limited conservation (12-33% identity at amino acid level), and ORF2 and ORF3 have no significant similarity to sequences deposited in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis indicates a potential new species with distant relationship to Tupaia and Tibrogargan virus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Cote d'Ivoire
  • Culex / virology*
  • Female
  • Gene Order
  • Genes, Viral
  • Genome, Viral
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Open Reading Frames
  • Phylogeny
  • RNA, Viral / genetics
  • RNA, Viral / isolation & purification
  • Rhabdoviridae / classification*
  • Rhabdoviridae / genetics
  • Rhabdoviridae / isolation & purification*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • RNA, Viral

Associated data

  • GENBANK/FJ985748
  • GENBANK/FJ985749