Discovery of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Bunyavirus Strains Originating from Intragenic Recombination

Abstract

This study analyzes available severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) genomes and reports that a sublineage of lineage I bears a unique M segment recombined from two of three prevailing SFTSV lineages. Through recombination, the sublineage has acquired nearly complete G1 associated with protective epitopes from lineage III, suggesting that this recombination has the capacity to induce antigenic shift of the virus. Therefore, this study provides some valuable implications for the vaccine design of SFTSV.

Evidence for intragenic recombination and selective sweep in an effector gene of Phytophthora infestans

“…Hence, it is logical to expect that the number of intragenic recombination events may be similar to the number of intergenic ones although an unknown proportion of intragenic recombination may be deleterious or lethal. Despite this possibility, its role in the evolution of species, largely underestimated until recent advances in molecular and computation technologies, has been shown to be of great importance occurring in almost all species and kingdoms ranging from virus (He & Ding, 2012; He et al., 2010; Phan, Okitsu, Maneekarn, & Ushijima, 2007) to protists (Ferreira & Briones, 2012), fungi (Stergiopoulos et al., 2014), plants (Kelly et al., 2010; Ortega, Bošković, Sargent, & Tobutt, 2006; Städler & Delph, 2002), and animals (Godinho, Mendonça, Crespo, & Ferrand, 2006; Marthaler et al., 2014). In the current study, we have two lines of evidence to support the hypothesis that intragenic recombination also contributes to the high genetic variation and evolutionary potential of Avr3a.…”

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome and its pathogen SFTSV

“…Homologous recombination, considered to be a key genetic diversity mechanism for positive-sense RNA viruses, is thought to be rare in negative-strand RNA virus. However, it was found in the M segment of SFTSV after analyzing the available M and L segment sequences [18]. These results implicated that SFTSV may also generate genetic diversity necessary for successful evolution via reassortment and homologous recombination.…”

An emerging hemorrhagic fever in China caused by a novel bunyavirus SFTSV

“…Phylogenetic, evolutionary, and structural analyses of all available SFTSV genomic sequences revealed recombination of SFTSV in the M and L segments [10]. A mosaic L segment sequence, which has descended from two major circulating lineages of SFTSV in China, represents the first evidence that homologous recombination plays a role in SFTSV evolution.…”