Genome-wide support for incipient Tula hantavirus species within a single rodent host lineage. ...

• Main Authors: Labutin, Anton, Heckel, Gerald
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2024
• Subjects: 570 Life sciences; biology; Common vole; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/192970; https://boris.unibe.ch/192970/

Evolutionary divergence of viruses is most commonly driven by co-divergence with their hosts or through isolation of transmission after host shifts. It remains mostly unknown, however, whether divergent phylogenetic clades within named virus species represent functionally equivalent byproducts of high evolutionary rates or rather incipient virus species. Here, we test these alternatives with genomic data from two widespread phylogenetic clades in Tula orthohantavirus (TULV) within a single evolutionary lineage of their natural rodent host, the common vole Microtus arvalis. We examined voles from forty-two locations in the contact region between clades for TULV infection by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Sequencing yielded twenty-three TULV Central North and twenty-one TULV Central South genomes, which differed by 14.9-18.5 per cent at the nucleotide and 2.2-3.7 per cent at the amino acid (AA) level without evidence of recombination or reassortment between clades. Geographic cline analyses demonstrated an ...