Natural host relationships and genetic diversity of Whitewater Arroyo virus in southern Texas.

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to refine our knowledge of the natural host relationships of Whitewater Arroyo (WWA) virus. Two hundred eight rodents, representing nine species, were captured in July 1999 on the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area in southern Texas and tested for evidence of arenavirus infection. Antibody to an arenavirus was found in seven (21.9%) of 32 southern plains woodrats (Neotoma micropus) and none of 168 other rodents. Infectious WWA virus was isolated from four antibody-positive southern plains woodrats, one of 25 antibodynegative southern plains woodrats, and none of 176 other rodents. Collectively, the results indicate that the southern plains woodrat is a principal host of WWA virus in southern Texas. Analyses of viral gene sequence data revealed substantial genetic diversity among WWA virus strains isolated from the woodrats, suggesting that multiple variants of the virus can coexist in a single woodrat species in a small geographic area.

Antibodies to Tacaribe Serocomplex Viruses (FamilyArenaviridae, GenusArenavirus) in Cricetid Rodents from New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico

“…are natural hosts of Tacaribe serocomplex viruses. Further, this study extends the known geographical distribution of Tacaribe serocomplex viruses in Texas from Dimmitt and La Salle counties (Fulhorst et al 2002b) to 10 other counties and provides the first evidence that Tacaribe serocomplex viruses are enzootic in Mexico.…”

“…For example, the hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) in southern Florida is the principal host of TAMV (Calisher et al 1970, Jennings et al 1970, and the southern plains woodrat (Neotoma micropus) in Dimmitt and La Salle counties in southern Texas is the principal host of CTNV (Fulhorst et al 2002b, Cajimat et al 2007a). Other natural hosts of Tacaribe serocomplex viruses in North America include the white-throated woodrat (N. albigula) in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, bushy-tailed woodrat (N. cinerea) in Utah, Mexican woodrat (N. mexicana) in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, southern plains woodrat in Colorado, Stephen's woodrat (N. stephensi) in Arizona and New Mexico, Bryant's woodrat (N. bryanti, formerly N. lepida; Patton et al 2008), dusky-footed woodrat (N. fuscipes), large-eared woodrat (N. macrotis), brush mouse (Peromyscus boylii), California mouse (P. californicus), cactus deermouse (P. eremicus), North American deermouse (P. maniculatus), and western harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis) in California, and marsh oryzomys (Oryzomys palustris) in Florida , 2001a, 2002a, Kosoy et al 1996, Bennett et al 2000, Calisher et al 2001, Abbott et al 2004, Cajimat et al 2007b.…”

Ecology of Catarina Virus (familyArenaviridae) in Southern Texas, 2001–2004

“…In a previous study (Fulhorst et al 2002a), strains of CTNV were isolated from 5 southern plains woodrats, antiarenavirus was found in 4 (14.3%) of 28 other southern plains woodrats, and neither arenavirus nor anti-arenavirus antibody was found in 60 hispid cotton rats, 13 white-footed mice, 3 northern grasshopper mice, 1 northern pygmy mouse, 1 fulvous harvest mouse, 3 Ord's kangaroo rats, 62 Merriam's pocket mice, or 32 hispid pocket mice captured on the CWMA in a 1-week period in July 1999. Collectively, these findings suggested that the southern plains woodrat is the principal host of CTNV on the CWMA and that CTNV infection is highly specific to N. micropus.…”

“…The results of a previous study (Fulhorst et al 2002a) suggested that the southern plains woodrat (Neotoma micropus) in southern Texas is the principal host of CTNV. The objective of this study was to extend our knowledge of the ecology of CTNV.…”

“…DQ865244), CTNV strain AV A0400212 (DQ865245), BCNV strain AV A0070039 (AY924390), WWAV strain AV 9310135 (AF228063), and TAMV strain W 10777 (AF512828). Strains AV A0400135 and AV A0400212 were originally isolated from southern plains woodrats captured on the CWMA in 1999 (Fulhorst et al 2002a); AV A0070039 from a California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) captured in California in 1998 (Fulhorst et al 2002b); W 10777 from a hispid cotton rat captured in Florida in 1965 (Calisher et al 1970); and AV 9310135 from a white-throated woodrat (N. albigula) captured in New Mexico in 1993 (Fulhorst et al 1996). The 11-taxa nucleotide sequence alignment was generated by using the computer program CLUSTAL W1.7 (Thompson et al 1994); the neighborjoining analysis of genetic (p) distances was done with MEGA, version 4.0 (Tamura et al 2007); and bootstrap support (Felsenstein 1985) for the results of the neighbor-joining analysis was based on 1000 pseudoreplicate datasets generated from the original multiple nucleotide sequence alignment.…”