title: Molecular evidence and high genetic diversity of shrew-borne Seewis virus in Slovenia.
abstract: Seewis virus, the shrew-borne hantavirus from Sorex araneus, has been molecularly detected in reservoir hosts in many different central European countries and Russia. Slovenia is a known endemic country for rodent-borne hantaviruses, therefore the aim of the study was to investigate the presence of shrew-borne hantaviruses in insectivores. Viral L, S and M segment have been recovered only from tissue samples of 7 S. araneus, despite several shrew species were tested. Phylogenetic analysis showed high genetic diversity of SWSV in Slovenia, ranging from 3 to 19.4% for different viral segments. The most divergent were M segment sequences, with 19.4% nucleotide divergence among Slovenian strains. Above that, different SWSV strains from Slovenia do not group into separate geographic clusters. While three separate genetic clades were determined, two of them were simultaneously present in one location at the same time.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Zaloška 4, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Resman
authors.forename: Miša
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Korva
authors.forename: Luka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fajs
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zidarič
authors.forename: Tomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Trilar
authors.forename: Tatjana Avšič
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Zupanc
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000821:virology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012788:Shrews / Q000821:virology*; D017524:Slovenia; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins
keywords: Hantavirus; Seewis virus; Slovenia; Sorex araneus