Quaranfil, Johnston Atoll, and Lake Chad Viruses Are Novel Members of the Family
            <i>Orthomyxoviridae</i>

Presti, Rachel; Zhao, Guoyan; Beatty, Wandy L.; Mihindukulasuriya, Kathie A.; Rosa, A.P.A. Travassos da; Popov, Vsevolod L.; Tesh, Robert B.; Virgin, Herbert W.; Wang, David

doi:10.1128/jvi.00677-09

Cited by 82 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…All avian (Pekin duck, Japanese quail) and mammalian (human, African green monkey, rhesus macaque, Mexican free-tailed bat, Virginia opossum, American mink, cattle) cell lines tested were susceptible to infection and supported replication to various degrees (maximum titers of 10 6.15 to 10 8.02 PFU/ml). However, WFBV did not replicate in C6/36 cells derived from Aedes albopictus, similar to results reported for QFRV and JAV (23,64) as well as CyRV (34), demonstrating an in vitro host range barrier for Asian tiger mosquito cells in all tested quaranjaviruses. Phylogenetic analysis.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…4). The consensus sequences of the conserved terminal ends of the genome were 5=-AGCAAUC ACAA and UUGUUAUUGCU-3=, nearly identical to those observed in QRFV (23), and exhibited perfect inverse complementarity other than position 7 from each end (underlined) (49).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Although these three viruses were only recently recognized as orthomyxoviruses (23), they were originally isolated in the 1950s and 1960s: QRFV in Quaranfil, Egypt, in 1953; JAV in Sand Island, Johnston Atoll, in the North Pacific, in 1964; and LKCV in Lake Chad, Nigeria, in 1969 (24,25). The geographic distribution of QFRV appears to be widespread, stretching across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia (26,27), as does JAV, which in addition to Johnston Atoll has been reportedly isolated in Hawaii (28), Australia (29), and New Zealand (30).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The geographic distribution of QFRV appears to be widespread, stretching across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia (26,27), as does JAV, which in addition to Johnston Atoll has been reportedly isolated in Hawaii (28), Australia (29), and New Zealand (30). In contrast, the natural distribution of LKCV is unknown, as its geographical range can only be inferred from the single isolation of the prototype strain in Nigeria (23).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, unlike THOV and DHOV that primarily circulate in transmission cycles involving hard ticks (family Ixodidae) and mammals (14), the quaranjaviruses appear to predominately cycle in soft ticks (family Argasidae) and aquatic birds (23). As soft ticks are often found in tropical and subtropical habitats that contain very high population densities of nesting birds (31,32), the quaranjaviruses have been associated primarily with colonial nesting species, such as gannets, terns, and herons, or other communal birds, such as weavers (23,25,30,33).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cyclic Avian Mass Mortality in the Northeastern United States Is Associated with a Novel Orthomyxovirus

Allison

Ballard

Tesh

et al. 2015

J Virol

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Since 1998, cyclic mortality events in common eiders (Somateria mollissima), numbering in the hundreds to thousands of dead birds, have been documented along the coast of Cape Cod, MA, USA. Although longitudinal disease investigations have uncovered potential contributing factors responsible for these outbreaks, detecting a primary etiological agent has proven enigmatic. Here, we identify a novel orthomyxovirus, tentatively named Wellfleet Bay virus (WFBV), as a potential causative agent of these outbreaks. Genomic analysis of WFBV revealed that it is most closely related to members of the Quaranjavirus genus within the family Orthomyxoviridae. Similar to other members of the genus, WFBV contains an alphabaculovirus gp64-like glycoprotein that was demonstrated to have fusion activity; this also tentatively suggests that ticks (and/or insects) may vector the virus in nature. However, in addition to the six RNA segments encoding the prototypical structural proteins identified in other quaranjaviruses, a previously unknown RNA segment (segment 7) encoding a novel protein designated VP7 was discovered in WFBV. Although WFBV shows low to moderate levels of sequence similarity to Quaranfil virus and Johnston Atoll virus, the original members of the Quaranjavirus genus, additional antigenic and genetic analyses demonstrated that it is closely related to the recently identified Cygnet River virus (CyRV) from South Australia, suggesting that WFBV and CyRV may be geographic variants of the same virus. Although the identification of WFBV in part may resolve the enigma of these mass mortality events, the details of the ecology and epidemiology of the virus remain to be determined. IMPORTANCEThe emergence or reemergence of viral pathogens resulting in large-scale outbreaks of disease in humans and/or animals is one of the most important challenges facing biomedicine. For example, understanding how orthomyxoviruses such as novel influenza A virus reassortants and/or mutants emerge to cause epidemic or pandemic disease is at the forefront of current global health concerns. Here, we describe the emergence of a novel orthomyxovirus, Wellfleet Bay virus (WFBV), which has been associated with cyclic large-scale bird die-offs in the northeastern United States. This initial characterization study provides a foundation for further research into the evolution, epidemiology, and ecology of newly emerging orthomyxoviruses, such as WFBV, and their potential impacts on animal and/or human health.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 67%