Kama virus (KAMV) is an atypical representative of the seabird tick-borne flaviviruses.

Abstract

According to modern classification, tick-borne flaviviruses have been divided into a mammalian tick-borne virus group and a seabird tick-borne virus group (STBVG). The STBVG includes the Tyuleniy virus, Meaban virus, Saumarez Reef virus, and the recently discovered Kama virus (KAMV). The latter was isolated from Ixodes lividus, an obligate parasitic tick of the sand martin (Riparia riparia), in 1989 in the central part of the Russian Plain. In 2014, based on molecular genetic analysis, it was shown that KAMV is a new virus belonging to STBVG, genus Flavivirus, fam. Flaviviridae. Very little is known about the Kama virus concerning its range, vectors, and reservoir hosts. GenBank contains a single sequence of the complete genome of this virus. In the present study, the complete genome sequences of two strains, isolated in 1983 in the Omsk region (Western Siberia) from gamasid mites in the nests of rooks (Corvus frugilegus), have been determined. Phylogenetic analyses of their genomes showed a close relationship both with each other (approx. 98.9% nucleotide identity) and with KAMV isolated in European Russia (approx. 98.4% nucleotide identity). The ecological features of KAMV that are due to the species of the vector (gamasid mites) and its hosts (colonial birds of the mainland of Eurasia) indicate that KAMV is an atypical representative STBVG.