title: Discovery of a novel alphavirus related to Eilat virus.
abstract: Most alphaviruses are transmitted by arthropods and infect vertebrate hosts. An exception is Eilat virus (EILV), the only described alphavirus with a host range restricted to insects. We established a new generic reverse transcription PCR assay for alphaviruses and tested 8860 tropical mosquitoes. We detected a novel alphavirus, tentatively named Taï Forest alphavirus (TALV), in Culex decens mosquitoes collected in Ivory Coast. The full genome was sequenced, and closest similarity was found to EILV. Pairwise amino acid identities to EILV ranged between 67 and 88 % for the corresponding proteins, suggesting that TALV defines a proposed new alphavirus species. Phylogenetic analyses placed TALV as a sister species to EILV with a basal relationship to the western equine encephalitis virus complex. In comparison to the highly abundant insect-specific flaviviruses, insect-specific alphaviruses seem to be rare. This new PCR assay can detect novel alphaviruses and may facilitate the identification of additional new alphaviruses.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Kyra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hermanns
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany.|Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zirkel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kopp
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marklewitz
authors.affiliation: College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.|Present address: Ecosystem Health Initiative, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA.|Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.|Department of Environmental Sciences and Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Innocent B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Rwego
authors.affiliation: Estación de Biología Tropical Los Tuxtlas, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Estrada
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.|Department of Environmental Sciences and Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Gillespie
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany.|Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drosten
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.|German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Junglen
mesh_terms: D000524:Alphavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D007560:Cote d'Ivoire; D003465:Culex / Q000821:virology*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral