Characterization of Imjin virus, a newly isolated hantavirus from the Ussuri white-toothed shrew (Crocidura lasiura).
Until recently, the single known exception to the rodent-hantavirus association was Thottapalayam virus (TPMV), a long-unclassified virus isolated from the Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus). Robust gene amplification techniques have now uncovered several genetically distinct hantaviruses from shrews in widely separated geographic regions. Here, we report the characterization of a newly identified hantavirus, designated Imjin virus (MJNV), isolated from the lung tissues of Ussuri white-toothed shrews of the species Crocidura lasiura (order Soricomorpha, family Soricidae, subfamily Crocidurinae) captured near the demilitarized zone in the Republic of Korea during 2004 and 2005. Seasonal trapping revealed the highest prevalence of MJNV infection during the autumn, with evidence of infected shrews' clustering in distinct foci. Also, marked male predominance among anti-MJNV immunoglobulin G antibody-positive Ussuri shrews was found, whereas the male-to-female ratio among seronegative Ussuri shrews was near 1. Plaque reduction neutralization tests showed no cross neutralization for MJNV and rodent-borne hantaviruses but one-way cross neutralization for MJNV and TPMV. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences for the different MJNV genomic segments revealed nearly the same calculated distances from hantaviruses harbored by rodents in the subfamilies Murinae, Arvicolinae, Neotominae, and Sigmodontinae. Phylogenetic analyses of full-length S, M, and L segment sequences demonstrated that MJNV shared a common ancestry with TPMV and remained in a distinct out-group, suggesting early evolutionary divergence. Studies are in progress to determine if MJNV is pathogenic for humans.
Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Institute for Viral Diseases and Bank for Pathogenic Viruses, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jin-Won
JW
Song
Hae Ji
HJ
Kang
Se Hun
SH
Gu
Sung Sil
SS
Moon
Shannon N
SN
Bennett
Ki-Joon
KJ
Song
Luck Ju
LJ
Baek
Heung-Chul
HC
Kim
Monica L
ML
O'Guinn
Sung-Tae
ST
Chong
Terry A
TA
Klein
Richard
R
Yanagihara
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D012621:Seasons; D012788:Shrews / Q000821:virology*; D014709:Vero Cells; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D012367:RNA, Viral