Integrated Jingmenvirus Polymerase Gene in Ixodes ricinus Genome

Members of the jingmenviruses group have been found in arthropods and mammals on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Two viruses of this group were isolated from patients with fever after a tick bite. Using a nested RT-PCR assay targeting a jingmenvirus polymerase gene fragment, we scree...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Viruses
Main Authors: Evgeny S. Morozkin, Marat T. Makenov, Olga B. Zhurenkova, Ivan S. Kholodilov, Oxana A. Belova, Ekaterina V. Radyuk, Marina V. Fyodorova, Yana E. Grigoreva, Alexander G. Litov, Anna V. Valdokhina, Victoria P. Bulanenko, Andrei E. Samoilov, Elena V. Korneenko, Yana A. Voizekhovskaya, Alexey D. Neverov, Galina G. Karganova, Lyudmila S. Karan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022
Subjects:
jingmenviruses
Alongshan virus
endogenous viral elements
Ixodes
ixodid ticks
tick cell line
Microbiology
QR1-502
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/v14091908
https://doaj.org/article/be70539167fa4d8cb0ab8a1078e5c028
Description
Summary:Members of the jingmenviruses group have been found in arthropods and mammals on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Two viruses of this group were isolated from patients with fever after a tick bite. Using a nested RT-PCR assay targeting a jingmenvirus polymerase gene fragment, we screened ticks collected in seven regions of Russia and found that the abundant jingmenvirus-positive were of Ixodes ricinus species, with the prevalence ranging from 19.8% to 34.3%. In all cases, DNase/RNase treatment suggested that the detected molecule was DNA and subsequent next generation sequencing (NGS) proved that the viral polymerase gene was integrated in the I. ricinus genome. The copy number of the integrated polymerase gene was quantified by qPCR relative to the ITS2 gene and estimated as 1.32 copies per cell. At least three different genetic variants of the integrated polymerase gene were found in the territory of Russia. Phylogenetic analysis of the integrated jingmenvirus polymerase gene showed the highest similarity with the sequence of the correspondent gene obtained in Serbia from I. ricinus .

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