A novel negevirus isolated from Aedes vexans mosquitoes in Finland

Arch Virol. 2020 Dec;165(12):2989-2992. doi: 10.1007/s00705-020-04810-4. Epub 2020 Sep 20.

Abstract

Negeviruses are insect-specific enveloped RNA viruses that have been detected in mosquitoes and sandflies from various geographical locations. Here, we describe a new negevirus from Northern Europe, isolated from pool of Aedes vexans mosquitoes collected in Finland, designated as Mekrijärvi negevirus (MEJNV). MEJNV had a typical negevirus genome organization, is 9,740 nucleotides in length, and has a GC content of 47.53%. The MEJNV genome contains three ORFs, each containing the following identified conserved domains: ORF1 (7,068 nt) encodes a viral methyltransferase, an FtsJ-like methyltransferase, a viral RNA helicase, and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, ORF2 (1,242 nt) encodes a putative virion glycoprotein, and ORF3 (660 nt) encodes a putative virion membrane protein. A distinctive feature relative to other currently known negeviruses is a 7-nucleotide-long overlap between ORF1 and ORF2. MEJNV shares the highest sequence identity with Ying Kou virus from China, with 67.71% nucleotide and 75.19% and 59.00% amino acid sequence identity in ORF 1 and ORF 2, respectively. ORF3 had the highest amino acid sequence similarity to Daeseongdong virus 1 and negevirus Nona 1, both with 77.61% identity, and to Ying Kou virus, with 71.22% identity. MEJNV is currently the northernmost negevirus described. Our report supports the view that negeviruses are a globally distributed, diverse group of viruses that can be found from mosquitoes in a wide range of terrestrial biomes from tropical to boreal forests.

MeSH terms

  • Aedes / virology*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animal Distribution
  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Finland
  • Genome, Viral
  • Insect Viruses / classification*
  • Insect Viruses / isolation & purification
  • Open Reading Frames
  • Phylogeny
  • RNA Viruses / classification*
  • RNA Viruses / isolation & purification
  • RNA, Viral / genetics
  • RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / genetics
  • Viral Proteins / genetics

Substances

  • RNA, Viral
  • Viral Proteins
  • RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase