Gouleako virus isolated from West African mosquitoes constitutes a proposed novel genus in the family Bunyaviridae.

M Marklewitz, S Handrick, W Grasse, A Kurth, A Lukashev, C Drosten, H Ellerbrok, F H Leendertz, G Pauli, S Junglen

Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Sigmund Freud Str. 25, 53127 Bonn, Germany.

Journal of virology 2011 Sep

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The family Bunyaviridae is the most diversified family of RNA viruses. We describe a novel prototypic bunyavirus, tentatively named Gouléako virus, isolated from various mosquito species trapped in Côte d'Ivoire. The S segment comprised 1,087 nucleotides (nt), the M segment 3,188 nt, and the L segment 6,358 nt, constituting the shortest bunyavirus genome known so far. The virus had shorter genome termini than phleboviruses and showed no evidence of encoded NSs and NSm proteins. An uncharacterized 105-amino-acid (aa) putative open reading frame (ORF) was detected in the S segment. Genetic equidistance to other bunyaviruses (74 to 88% aa identity) and absence of serological cross-reactivity with phleboviruses suggested a proposed novel Bunyaviridae genus.

Citation

M Marklewitz, S Handrick, W Grasse, A Kurth, A Lukashev, C Drosten, H Ellerbrok, F H Leendertz, G Pauli, S Junglen. Gouleako virus isolated from West African mosquitoes constitutes a proposed novel genus in the family Bunyaviridae. Journal of virology. 2011 Sep;85(17):9227-34