Taxonomic reorganization of the family Bornaviridae

Abstract

Knowledge of bornaviruses has expanded considerably during the last decade. A possible reservoir of mammalian Borna disease virus has been identified, divergent bornaviruses have been detected in birds and reptiles, and endogenous bornavirus-like elements have been discovered in the genomes of vertebrates of several species. Previous sequence comparisons and alignments have indicated that the members of the current family Bornaviridae are phylogenetically diverse and are not adequately classified in the existing bornavirus taxonomy supported by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). We provide an update of these analyses and describe their implications for taxonomy. We propose retaining the family name Bornaviridae and the genus Bornavirus but reorganizing species classification. PAirwise Sequence Comparison (PASC) of bornavirus genomes and Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) comparison of genomic and protein sequences, in combination with other already published phylogenetic analyses and known biological characteristics of bornaviruses, indicate that this genus should include at least five species: Mammalian 1 bornavirus (classical Borna disease virus and divergent Borna disease virus isolate No/98), Psittaciform 1 bornavirus (avian/psittacine bornaviruses 1, 2, 3, 4, 7), Passeriform 1 bornavirus (avian/canary bornaviruses C1, C2, C3, LS), Passeriform 2 bornavirus (estrildid finch bornavirus EF), and Waterbird 1 bornavirus (avian bornavirus 062CG). This classification is also in line with biological characteristics of these viruses and their vertebrate hosts. A snake bornavirus, proposed to be named Loveridge’s garter snake virus 1, should be classified as a member of an additional species (Elapid 1 bornavirus), unassigned to a genus, in the family Bornaviridae. Avian bornaviruses 5, 6, MALL, and another “reptile bornavirus” (“Gaboon viper virus”) should stay unclassified until further information becomes available. Finally, we propose new virus names and abbreviations when necessary to achieve clear differentiation and unique identification.

Memory Impairment Induced by Borna Disease Virus 1 Infection is Associated with Reduced H3K9 Acetylation

“…Bornaviruses (Order Mononegavirales Family Bornaviridae) are phylogenetically diverse, nonsegmented, negative single-stranded RNA viruses [1][2][3]. Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1), as part of the species Mammalian 1 bornavirus, is a highly neurotropic prototype of Bornaviruses and infects a wide variety of mammal species [4,5].…”

Synergistic antiviral activity of ribavirin and interferon-α against parrot bornaviruses in avian cells

“…To date, 15 avian bornaviruses have been identified in a broad range of avian hosts, including Psittaciformes, Passeriformes and waterfowl (Afonso et al, 2016;Kuhn et al, 2015;Philadelpho et al, 2014). Parrot bornaviruses 2 (PaBV-2) and 4 (PaBV-4) are widely distributed in captive psittacine populations (Heffels-Redmann et al, 2011;Rubbenstroth et al, 2012) and were demonstrated to be the causative agents of proventricular dilatation disease (PDD) in these birds (Gray et al, 2010;Mirhosseini et al, 2011;Piepenbring et al, 2012;Rubbenstroth et al, 2014).…”

“…Bornaviruses are slowly replicating viruses that can persistently infect neurons and various other cell types in susceptible hosts. Disease is assumed to result from virus-induced immunopathology rather than from direct cell damage (reviewed in Kuhn et al, 2015;Staeheli et al, 2010). PDD in psittacines is a mostly chronic and often fatal disease, which is characterized by gastrointestinal or neurological signs or a combination of both.…”

“…However, due to the lack of homologous IFN preparations, no in vivo data on the efficacy of IFN in infected psittacines are available. The nucleoside analogue ribavirin is active against a broad range of RNA viruses (Day et al, 2005;Graci et al, 2007;Gu et al, 2006;Leyssen et al, 2005;Moreno et al, 2011;Pauly & Lauring, 2015;Severson et al, 2003), including the mammalian Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1), which is a close relative of the avian bornaviruses (Kuhn et al, 2015). Several studies demonstrated that ribavirin can inhibit BoDV-1 in mammalian cell lines (Jordan et al, 1999;Mizutani et al, 1998Mizutani et al, , 1999 as well as in experimentally infected gerbils (Lee et al, 2008).…”

Avian Bornaviruses in North American Gulls

“…Delnatte et al (2011) examined fixed tissues from birds with neurologic disease and detected bornavirus sequences in brain tissue from wild Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) and Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) in eastern Canada. This virus has been named aquatic bird bornavirus 1 (ABBV-1; Kuhn et al 2014). ABBV-1 infection is common and widespread across the US in several species of wild geese including Canada Geese, Snow Geese (Chen caerulensis), and Ross's Geese (Chen rossii) as well as in Mute Swans (Cygnus olor).…”