title: Complete genome of a Puumala virus strain from Central Europe.
abstract: Puumala virus (PUUV) is one of the predominant hantavirus species in Europe causing mild to moderate cases of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Parts of Lower Saxony in north-western Germany are endemic for PUUV infections. In this study, the complete PUUV genome sequence of a bank vole-derived tissue sample from the 2007 outbreak was determined by a combined primer-walking and RNA ligation strategy. The S, M and L genome segments were 1,828, 3,680 and 6,550 nucleotides in length, respectively. Sliding-window analyses of the nucleotide sequences of all available complete PUUV genomes indicated a non-homogenous distribution of variability with hypervariable regions located at the 3'-ends of the S and M segments. The overall similarity of the coding genome regions to the other PUUV strains ranged between 80.1 and 84.7 % at the level of the nucleotide sequence and between 89.5 and 98.1 % for the deduced amino acid sequences. In comparison to the phylogenetic trees of the complete coding sequences, trees based on partial segments revealed a general drop in phylogenetic support and a lower resolution. The Astrup strain S and M segment sequences showed the highest similarity to sequences of strains from geographically close sites in the Osnabrück Hills region. In conclusion, a primer-walking-mediated strategy resulted in the determination of the first complete nucleotide sequence of a PUUV strain from Central Europe. Different levels of variability along the genome provide the opportunity to choose regions for analyses according to the particular research question, e.g., large-scale phylogenetics or within-host evolution.
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, OIE Collaborating Centre for Zoonoses in Europe, Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Südufer 10, 17493, Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: Hanan Sheikh
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Drewes
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Weber de Melo
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schlegel
authors.forename: Jona
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Freise
authors.forename: Martin H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Groschup
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heckel
authors.forename: Rainer G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Ulrich
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005060:Europe; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006480:Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D029262:Puumala virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins