Tanay virus, a new species of virus isolated from mosquitoes in the Philippines

• DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.061887-0
• Publication Date: 2014-03-20T04:33:29Z
• Authors: Takeshi Nabeshima; Shingo Inoue; Kenta Okamoto; Guillermo Posadas...; Fuxun Yu; Leo Uchida; Akitoyo Ichinose; Miako Sakaguchi; Toshihiko Sunahara; Corazon C. Buerano; Florencio P. Tadena; Ildefonso B. Orbita; Filipinas F. Nati...; Kouichi Morita
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Philippines; Molecular Sequence Data; Virion; Insect Viruses; Genome, Viral; RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase; Plant Viruses; 3. Good health; Culex; Open Reading Frames; Viral Proteins; 03 medical and health sciences; Culicidae; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Animals; RNA Viruses; Viruses, Unclassified; Amino Acid Sequence; Phylogeny

In 2005, we isolated a new species of virus from mosquitoes in the Philippines. The virion was elliptical in shape and had a short single projection. The virus was named Tanay virus (TANAV) after the locality in which it was found. TANAV genomic RNA was a 9562 nt+poly-A positive strand, and polycistronic. The longest ORF contained putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP); however, conserved short motifs in the RdRP were permuted. TANAV was phylogenetically close to Negevirus, a recently proposed taxon of viruses isolated from haemophagic insects, and to some plant viruses, such as citrus leprosis virus C, hibiscus green spot virus and blueberry necrotic ring blotch virus. In this paper, we describe TANAV and the permuted structure of its RdRP, and discuss its phylogeny together with those of plant viruses and negevirus.