Niakha virus: A novel member of the family Rhabdoviridae isolated from phlebotomine sandflies in Senegal

Abstract

Members of the family Rhabdoviridae have been assigned to eight genera but many remain unassigned. Rhabdoviruses have a remarkably diverse host range that includes terrestrial and marine animals, invertebrates and plants. Transmission of some rhabdoviruses often requires an arthropod vector, such as mosquitoes, midges, sandflies, ticks, aphids and leafhoppers, in which they replicate. Herein we characterize Niakha virus (NIAV), a previously uncharacterized rhabdovirus isolated from phebotomine sandflies in Senegal. Analysis of the 11,124 nt genome sequence indicates that it encodes the five common rhabdovirus proteins with alternative ORFs in the M, G and L genes. Phylogenetic analysis of the L protein indicate that NIAV’s closest relative is Oak Vale rhabdovirus, although in this analysis NIAV is still so phylogenetically distinct that it might be classified as distinct from the eight currently recognized Rhabdoviridae genera. This observation highlights the vast, and yet not fully recognized diversity, of this family.

Genomic characterisation of Almpiwar virus, Harrison Dam virus and Walkabout Creek virus; three novel rhabdoviruses from northern Australia

“…Whilst previous studies have suggested that ALMV and NIAV are most closely (albeit distantly) related to OVRV (≤ 75%) and the tupaviruses (b 70%) (Vasilakis et al, 2013;Wellehan et al, 2012), our analyses indicate that ALMV and NIAV are in fact very distantly diverged from all of the groups within the dimarhabdoviruses supergroup. This is suggested most emphatically by our Bayesian analyses of the complete and Gblocks-trimmed L protein alignments, which display much stronger support values than our ML analyses and those observed in previous studies.…”

“…An overlapping ORF with similar hydrophobic properties is also found in NIAV (Vasilakis et al, 2013). These proteins have a sequence identity of 35% and appear to share several common sequence motifs (results not shown), reinforcing the suggestion of a common ancestry.…”

“…2): Tupaia virus (TUPV), a virus isolated from hepatocellular carcinoma of a moribund tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri) that originated from Thailand; Durham virus (DURV), a rhabdovirus isolated from an ataxic native bird (American coot) from North Carolina, United States; Niahka virus (NIAV), a West African virus isolated from phlebotomine sandflies whose vertebrate hosts are yet to be determined; and Oak Vale virus (OVRV), an Australian virus isolated on several occasions from mosquitoes in WA, NT and QLD, suggested to infect feral pigs (Allison et al, 2011;Gubala, 2009;Kurz et al, 1986;Quan et al, 2011;Vasilakis et al, 2013).…”

Rice Stripe Mosaic Virus, a Novel Cytorhabdovirus Infecting Rice via Leafhopper Transmission

“…Additionally, some viral particles was accumulated in intracellular vesicles ( Figure 2G ). This phenomenon is probably common for the plant rhabdoviruses due to budding occurs from the inner nuclear membrane or ER membrane and cytoplasmic vesicles (Jackson et al, 2005), and was also observed in animal infecting rhabdoviruses, vesicular stomatitis indiana virus (VSIV, genus Vesiculovirus ) (Hackett et al, 1968) and niakha virus (NIAV, genus unassigned) (Vasilakis et al, 2013) suggesting the alternative intracellular transport for virus budding in animal, but its function in plant is unclear. Furthermore, lettuce necrotic yellows virus (LNYV) particles had been observed in the perinuclear spaces with blistering on the outer nuclear membrane, and LNYV multiplication appears to occur in the nucleus at early stages (Wolanski and Chambers, 1971).…”

The family Rhabdoviridae: mono- and bipartite negative-sense RNA viruses with diverse genome organization and common evolutionary origins

“…Almpiwar, Chaco and Sena madueira viruses were isolated from reptiles, while Niakha and Sripur viruses were isolated from sandflies (Causey et al, 1966; McAllister et al, 2014; Monath et al, 1979; Vasilakis et al, 2013; Walker et al, 2015). Sripuvirus genomes are anchored by the prototype Sripur virus (SRIV), are similar in size and contain multiple ORFs encoding likely accessory proteins (Fig.…”