title: Genetic characterization of Erve virus, a European Nairovirus distantly related to Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.
abstract: Erve virus (ERVEV) is a European Nairovirus that is suspected to cause severe headache (thunderclap headache) and intracerebral hemorrhage. The mode of transmission to humans (ticks or mosquitoes) is still unknown. Currently, no standardized testing method for ERVEV exists and only a small partial sequence of the polymerase gene is available. Here, we present the first complete genome sequence of ERVEV S, M, and L segments. Phylogenetic comparison of the amino acid sequence of the L-protein (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) revealed only 48 % homology to available L-protein sequences of other Nairoviruses like Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Nairobi sheep disease virus, Hazara virus, Kupe virus, and Dugbe virus. Among themselves, these Nairoviruses show 62-89 % homology in the L-protein sequences. Therefore, ERVEV seems to be only distantly related to other Nairoviruses. The new sequence data can be used for the development of diagnostic methods and the identification of the natural vector.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Kreuzbergring 57, Göttingen, Germany. meik.dilcher@medizin.uni-goettingen.de
authors.forename: Meik
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dilcher
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Lekbira
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hasib
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dobler
authors.forename: Frank T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Hufert
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weidmann
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D019295:Computational Biology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016679:Genome, Viral; D003225:Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016855:Nairovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014709:Vero Cells; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase