Abstract
Thottapalayam virus (TPMV) has been placed in the genus Hantavirus of the family Bunyaviridae by virtue of its morphologic features and overall genetic similarities to well-characterized rodentborne hantaviruses. This virus has been isolated from the Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus); however, whether TPMV is naturally harbored by an insectivore host or represents spillover from a rodent reservoir host is unknown. Our analysis of published and unpublished data on the experimental host range, genetics, and molecular phylogeny of TPMV supports coevolution of TPMV with its nonrodent reservoir host. Future studies on the epizootiology of TPMV and investigations of new shrewborne hantaviruses will provide additional insights into the evolutionary origin of hantaviruses in their rodent and insectivore reservoir hosts. Such investigations may also provide clues about determinants of hantavirus pathogenicity and virulence.
Highlights
Thottapalayam virus (TPMV) has been placed in the genus Hantavirus of the family Bunyaviridae by virtue of its morphologic features and overall genetic similarities to well-characterized rodentborne hantaviruses
The 1 exception that did not have a confirmed rodent association has been Thottapalayam virus (TPMV), which was isolated from an Asian house shrew or musk shrew (Suncus murinus) captured in 1964 during a survey for Japanese encephalitis virus in southern India [7]
Isolation of TPMV predates that of all other hantaviruses, including prototype Hantaan virus (HTNV), little is known about its biology and genetics
Summary
In their primary rodent reservoir hosts, naturally occurring and experimentally induced hantavirus infections are subclinical and chronic [14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. In infant mice and rats experimentally infected with HTNV and SEOV, respectively, fatal meningoencephalitis develops [24,25,26,27]. Mice and rats >14–21 days of age are generally resistant to experimental HTNV and SEOV infection [26,27]. To determine the host range of experimental TPMV infection and to ascertain whether susceptibility of small laboratory animals to disseminated TPMV infection is agedependent, we infected NIH Swiss mice and Mongolian gerbils of different ages, as well as infant deer mice and gray short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica), by the intracerebral route with 6,000 PFU of TPMV (Table 1). Unlike HTNV, SEOV, PUUV, PHV, and SNV, TPMV appears to have a much broader experimental host range in small laboratory animals. ELISAs with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) prepared against HTNV showed that certain epitopes defined by Gc-
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