Abstract
A number of viruses within the Peribunyaviridae family are naturally occurring reassortants, a common phenomenon for segmented viruses. Using a minigenome-reporter and virus-like particle (VLP) production assay, we have accessed the potential of Oropouche virus (OROV), Schmallenberg virus (SBV), and other orthobunyaviruses within the Simbu serogroup to reassort. We found that the untranslated region (UTR) in the medium segment is a potential contributing factor for reassortment by the tested viruses. We demonstrate that for promoter activity to occur it was essential that the viral RNA polymerase (L) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins were from the same virus, reinforcing the hypothesis that the large and small segments that encode these proteins segregate together during genome reassortment. Our results indicate that, given the right epidemiological setting, reassortment between SBV and OROV would potentially be feasible and could contribute to the emergence of a new Simbu virus.
Highlights
The Orthobunyavirus genus in the Peribunyaviridae family comprises at least30 viruses that can cause disease in humans and animals, including Oropouche virus (OROV), Schmallenberg virus (SBV) and La Crosse virus (LACV) [1,2]
The minigenome plasmids contain the Renilla luciferase reporter gene flanked by viral untranslated region (UTR), in the viral genomic sense, functioning as a genome segment analogue
Minigenome activity was detected in the homologous minigenome systems (i.e., OROV M-minigenome with OROV N-L or SBV M-minigenome with SBV N-L) (Figure 1A)
Summary
The Orthobunyavirus genus in the Peribunyaviridae family (order Bunyavirales) comprises at least. 30 viruses that can cause disease in humans and animals, including Oropouche virus (OROV), Schmallenberg virus (SBV) and La Crosse virus (LACV) [1,2]. The Orthobunyavirus genome is tripartite, made up of single-stranded segments of negative-sense polarity. The small genome segment encodes the nucleocapsid (N) protein and, in a majority of viruses, an additional nonstructural protein called. The medium segment encodes a protein precursor for two envelope glycoproteins (Gn and Gc) and a nonstructural protein called NSm. The large genome segment encodes the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (L protein). The 50 and 30 ends of these genome segments are flanked by highly conserved and complementary genus-specific sequences, which contain signals for genome transcription, replication, and packaging. Each genomic segment in combination with the N and L proteins form a functional ribonucleoprotein (RNP) [2,3,4,5,6]
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