title: Identification of novel rodent herpesviruses, including the first gammaherpesvirus of Mus musculus.
abstract: Rodent herpesviruses such as murine cytomegalovirus (host, Mus musculus), rat cytomegalovirus (host, Rattus norvegicus), and murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (hosts, Apodemus species) are important tools for the experimental study of human herpesvirus diseases. However, alphaherpesviruses, roseoloviruses, and lymphocryptoviruses, as well as rhadinoviruses, that naturally infect Mus musculus (house mouse) and other Old World mice are unknown. To identify hitherto-unknown rodent-associated herpesviruses, we captured M. musculus, R. norvegicus, and 14 other rodent species in several locations in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Thailand. Samples of trigeminal ganglia, dorsal root ganglia, brains, spleens, and other organs, as well as blood, were analyzed with a degenerate panherpesvirus PCR targeting the DNA polymerase (DPOL) gene. Herpesvirus-positive samples were subjected to a second degenerate PCR targeting the glycoprotein B (gB) gene. The sequences located between the partial DPOL and gB sequences were amplified by long-distance PCR and sequenced, resulting in a contiguous sequence of approximately 3.5 kbp. By DPOL PCR, we detected 17 novel betaherpesviruses and 21 novel gammaherpesviruses but no alphaherpesvirus. Of these 38 novel herpesviruses, 14 were successfully analyzed by the complete bigenic approach. Most importantly, the first gammaherpesvirus of Mus musculus was discovered (Mus musculus rhadinovirus 1 [MmusRHV1]). This virus is a member of a novel group of rodent gammaherpesviruses, which is clearly distinct from murine herpesvirus 68-like rodent gammaherpesviruses. Multigenic phylogenetic analysis, using an 8-kbp locus, revealed that MmusRHV1 diverged from the other gammaherpesviruses soon after the evolutionary separation of Epstein-Barr virus-like lymphocryptoviruses from human herpesvirus 8-like rhadinoviruses and alcelaphine herpesvirus 1-like macaviruses.
authors.affiliation: P14 Molekulare Genetik und Epidemiologie von Herpesviren, Robert Koch-Institut, Nordufer 20, D-13353 Berlin, Germany. ehlersb@rki.de
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ehlers
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Küchler
authors.forename: Nezlisah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yasmum
authors.forename: Güzin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dural
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Chanasit
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jäkel
authors.forename: Franz-Rainer
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Matuschka
authors.forename: Dania
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Essbauer
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Candice
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Summers
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Rainer G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Ulrich
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018142:Gammaherpesvirinae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D051381:Rats; D014018:Tissue Distribution