title: Evolutionary origin of pathogenic arthropod-borne viruses-a case study in the family Bunyaviridae.
abstract: Arthropod-borne viruses have a dual-host tropism and their transmission requires the infection of two disparate hosts, arthropods and vertebrates. Arboviruses occur in several RNA families that also contain viruses with a monotropism for either arthropods or vertebrates. The evolutionary origin of the dual-host tropism of arboviruses was recently identified for the family Bunyaviridae. Bunyaviruses were suggested to have evolved from viruses that are restricted to arthropods as hosts (arthropod-specific viruses). Additional findings of an immense genetic diversity of bunyaviruses in non-blood feeding arthropods support the hypothesis of an arthropod origin of vertebrate-pathogenic bunyaviruses.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany; German Centre for Infection Research, Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: junglen@virology-bonn.de.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Junglen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000821:virology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002043:Bunyaviridae / Q000502:physiology*; D002044:Bunyaviridae Infections / Q000821:virology