A newly isolated reovirus has the simplest genomic and structural organization of any reovirus

Albert J. Auguste, Jason T. Kaelber, Eric B. Fokam, Hilda Guzman, Christine V.F. Carrington, Jesse H. Erasmus, Basile Kamgang, Vsevolod L. Popov, Joanita Jakana, Xiangan Liu, Thomas G. Wood, Steven G. Widen, Nikos Vasilakis, Robert B. Tesh, Wah Chiu, Scott C. Weaver

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

A total of 2,691 mosquitoes representing 17 species was collected from eight locations in southwest Cameroon and screened for pathogenic viruses. Ten isolates of a novel reovirus (genus Dinovernavirus) were detected by culturing mosquito pools on Aedes albopictus (C6/36) cell cultures. A virus that caused overt cytopathic effects was isolated, but it did not infect vertebrate cells or produce detectable disease in infant mice after intracerebral inoculation. The virus, tentatively designated Fako virus (FAKV), represents the first 9-segment, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus to be isolated in nature. FAKV appears to have a broad mosquito host range, and its detection in male specimens suggests mosquito-to-mosquito transmission in nature. The structure of the T=1 FAKV virion, determined to subnanometer resolution by cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), showed only four proteins per icosahedral asymmetric unit: a dimer of the major capsid protein, one turret protein, and one clamp protein. While all other turreted reoviruses of known structures have at least two copies of the clamp protein per asymmetric unit, FAKV's clamp protein bound at only one conformer of the major capsid protein. The FAKV capsid architecture and genome organization represent the most simplified reovirus described to date, and phylogenetic analysis suggests that it arose from a more complex ancestor by serial loss-of-function events.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)676-687
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of virology
Volume89
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology
  • Immunology
  • Insect Science
  • Virology

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