Abstract
A metatranscriptomic study of RNA viruses in cold-blooded vertebrates identified two related viruses from frogfish (Antennarius striatus) that represent a new genus Antennavirus in the family Arenaviridae (Order: Bunyavirales). Computational analyses were used to identify features common to class I viral fusion proteins (VFPs) in antennavirus glycoproteins, including an N-terminal fusion peptide, two extended alpha-helices, an intrahelical loop, and a carboxyl terminal transmembrane domain. Like mammarenavirus and hartmanivirus glycoproteins, the antennavirus glycoproteins have an intracellular zinc-binding domain and a long virion-associated stable signal peptide (SSP). The glycoproteins of reptarenaviruses are also class I VFPs, but do not contain zinc-binding domains nor do they encode SSPs. Divergent evolution from a common progenitor potentially explains similarities of antennavirus, mammarenavirus, and hartmanivirus glycoproteins, with an ancient recombination event resulting in a divergent reptarenavirus glycoprotein.
Highlights
Until 2015, the Arenaviridae was comprised of a single genus of mammalian ambisense RNA viruses divided into two large monophyletic groups [1]
Lassa virus (LASV), an Old World (OW) arenavirus, has been designated as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) [16] and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI) [17]. These rankings for LASV are based in part on the potential for further geographic expansion of its rodent reservoirs, the frequent importation to North
We examine the amino acid sequences of proteins encoded by the newly described arenaviruses using computational tools that have previously proven potent in identifying structural features of viral fusion proteins [36,37,38,39,40,41]
Summary
Until 2015, the Arenaviridae was comprised of a single genus of mammalian ambisense RNA viruses divided into two large monophyletic groups [1]. New World (NW) arenaviruses infect rodents of the family Cricetidae [2,3]. Old World (OW) arenaviruses are found in African rodents from the family Muridae subfamily Murinae [7,8,9,10]. Lassa virus (LASV), an OW arenavirus, has been designated as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) [16] and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI) [17]. These rankings for LASV are based in part on the potential for further geographic expansion of its rodent reservoirs, the frequent importation to North
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