TY - JOUR
T1 - A novel nyavirus lacking matrix and glycoprotein genes from Argas japonicus ticks
AU - Kobayashi, Daisuke
AU - Komatsu, Noriyuki
AU - Faizah, Astri Nur
AU - Amoa-Bosompem, Michael
AU - Sawabe, Kyoko
AU - Isawa, Haruhiko
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants-in-aid for the Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases from Japan Agency for Medical Research and development (AMED) , and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP18K19220 and JP20K15671 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/1/15
Y1 - 2021/1/15
N2 - Viruses are highly diverse and are the sole agents that can infect organisms in all domains of life. Viruses are defined as capsid-encoding organisms as opposed to ribosome-encoding cellular organisms. However, recent advances in virology indicate the existence of unique viruses that do not meet this basic definition, such as capsidless viruses. During virome analysis of the soft tick Argas japonicus, we identified virus-like sequences closely related to the members of genus Nyavirus (family Nyamiviridae). Further analysis revealed sequences derived from a novel nyavirus that lacks two structural protein genes, matrix (M) and glycoprotein (G). This unique nyavirus is tentatively named Sekira virus (SEKRV). To our knowledge, this is the first study to report a nyavirus deficient in M and G genes in nature. The mechanism of infection, replication, and persistence of SEKRV remain unknown, yet this finding provides new insight into virus evolution and the diverse way of viral life in nature.
AB - Viruses are highly diverse and are the sole agents that can infect organisms in all domains of life. Viruses are defined as capsid-encoding organisms as opposed to ribosome-encoding cellular organisms. However, recent advances in virology indicate the existence of unique viruses that do not meet this basic definition, such as capsidless viruses. During virome analysis of the soft tick Argas japonicus, we identified virus-like sequences closely related to the members of genus Nyavirus (family Nyamiviridae). Further analysis revealed sequences derived from a novel nyavirus that lacks two structural protein genes, matrix (M) and glycoprotein (G). This unique nyavirus is tentatively named Sekira virus (SEKRV). To our knowledge, this is the first study to report a nyavirus deficient in M and G genes in nature. The mechanism of infection, replication, and persistence of SEKRV remain unknown, yet this finding provides new insight into virus evolution and the diverse way of viral life in nature.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.virusres.2020.198254
DO - 10.1016/j.virusres.2020.198254
M3 - Article
C2 - 33276024
AN - SCOPUS:85097370417
VL - 292
JO - Virus Research
JF - Virus Research
SN - 0168-1702
M1 - 198254
ER -
