Quaranjavirus is a genus of viral envelope , one of seven genera in the virus family Orthomyxoviridae. The genome is single-stranded, negative-sense segmented RNA, generally with six segments. The genus contains six species. Quaranjaviruses predominantly infect and ; Quaranfil quaranjavirus is the only member of the genus to have been shown to infect humans. The Quaranfil and Johnston Atoll viruses are transmitted between by , resembling members of Thogotovirus, another genus of Orthomyxoviridae.
History
Quaranfil virus was first isolated from humans in
Egypt in 1953.
Johnston Atoll virus and Lake Chad virus were first isolated from birds in 1964 and 1969, respectively.
In 1989, based on the appearance of the virus particles under the electron microscope, H.G. Zeller and colleagues suggested that they should be classified as
,
but this was not accepted by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV).
In 2009, based on sequence data and the structure of the virus particles, Rachel Presti and colleagues suggested that the three viruses should be classified as a new genus of
Orthomyxoviridae, originally named "Quarjavirus".
Multiple other viruses have subsequently been suggested as genus members.
The genus was formally proposed to the ICTV in 2012, under the name '"Quaranjavirus",
and formally approved by that body in 2013.
Nomenclature
Quaranfil virus is named for
Quaranfil, one of the villages near
Cairo from which the virus was isolated. The Johnston Atoll virus is named for
Johnston Atoll in the
Pacific Ocean, also where the virus was first isolated.
The genus name combines "Quaran", with "ja" for
Johnston
Atoll.
Virology
The virus particle is
viral envelope and spherical, ovoid or variable in shape, with a diameter generally in the range 80–120
nanometre.
The virus particle contains around ten
ribosome-like granules, a feature of arenaviruses.
It bears surface projections variously described as 4–5 nm long
and 10–14 nm in length and 4–6 nm in diameter.
The single-stranded, –RNA genome is linear and segmented, generally with six segments of 0.9–2.4 kb and a total size of around 11.5 kb.
The replication cycle of Quaranfil virus takes around 24–36 hours, which is comparable with thogotoviruses and slower than influenza viruses.
Host range and disease
Quaranjaviruses infect both
arthropod and
vertebrate hosts. The most common arthropod hosts are species of soft-bodied (
Argasidae family)
.
Most members cannot infect
mosquito cell lines in the laboratory.
In 2015, multiple new members of the genus were proposed based on RNA sequences obtained from mosquitos,
fly, other
, and the
Neoscona spider.
Aquatic birds that nest in colonies are the most common vertebrate hosts, including , and .
Species and strains
The genus contains the following species, listed by scientific name and followed by the exemplar virus of the species:
-
Quaranjavirus araguariense, Araguari virus
-
Quaranjavirus chadense, Lake Chad virus
-
Quaranjavirus johnstonense, Johnston Atoll virus
-
Quaranjavirus quaranfilense, Quaranfil virus
-
Quaranjavirus tyulekense, Tyulek virus
-
Quaranjavirus wellfleetense, Wellfleet Bay virus
Many other species or strains have been identified from a range of based on RNA data.
Quaranfil virus and related strains
Quaranfil virus was initially isolated in 1953 from two children with mild fever in the villages of Quaranfil and
Sindbis, near Cairo in Egypt.
to the virus have been demonstrated in around 8% of people sampled in the area, although no further cases of symptomatic disease have been reported. The geographical range of the virus is wide, also including
Nigeria and
South Africa in Africa, and
Afghanistan,
Iraq,
Iran,
Kuwait and
Yemen in the Middle East and Asia. The virus has also been isolated from seabirds and from ticks, such as the
Argasidae Argas.
The virus has been shown to be transmitted between vertebrates by ticks.
In the laboratory, it causes severe disease in mice.
Cygnet River and Wellfleet Bay virus
Cygnet River virus was isolated in 2010 from embryonated eggs of the
Muscovy duck (
Cairina moschate) from
Cygnet River,
Kangaroo Island in Australia. The virus was associated with an outbreak of severe disease in farmed ducks.
Wellfleet Bay virus was isolated from wild common eider ( Somateria mollissima) overwintering at Jeremy Point, Wellfleet Bay in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. The virus was associated with an outbreak of severe disease in 2010, and is hypothesised to have been a factor in a series of similar outbreaks in 1998–2013.
The two viruses are closely related and might be strains of the same virus; they are also related to Quaranfil virus.
Lake Chad virus
Lake Chad virus was isolated in 1969 from a vitelline masked weaver bird (
Ploceus vitellinus) from
Lake Chad in
Nigeria, and has yet to be isolated elsewhere.
The virus causes severe disease in mice under laboratory conditions. It is most closely related to Quaranfil virus.
Johnston Atoll virus
Johnston Atoll virus was first isolated in 1964 from soft-bodied
Ornithodoros ticks infesting the
Brown noddy (
Anous stolidus) from Sand Island,
Johnston Atoll, in the Pacific. Its range also includes
Hawaii,
Australia and
New Zealand.
The virus has been shown to be transmitted between vertebrates by ticks.
In the laboratory, it causes severe disease in mice and chicks.
Tyulek virus
Tyulek virus was isolated from soft-bodied
Argas ticks infesting birds by the Aksu River near the village of
Tyulek in
Kyrgyzstan. The virus is closely related to both Quaranfil and 'ohnston Atoll viruses.
Other putative strains
Thirteen RNA sequences with 34–40% sequence identity to Johnston Atoll virus have been identified in
and
in
China. Putative hosts include
Neoscona (spider),
Atherigona orientalis (pepper fruit fly),
Chrysomya megacephala (oriental latrine fly),
Sarcophaga (flesh flies),
housefly (housefly),
Culex tritaeniorhynchus,
C. quinquefasciatus,
Anopheles sinensis and
Armigeres subalbatus (mosquitoes),
Psychodinae (moth fly),
Hippoboscoidea (louse fly), as well as unidentified species in the
Horse-fly (horse-fly),
Gerridae (water strider) and
Stratiomyidae (soldier fly) groups.
Nearly 50 viruses associated with
Orthomyxoviridae were identified in a broad variety of insect hosts, after computational virus screening of the largest insect transcriptome collection sampled worldwide.
-related viruses were found for the first time in insect hosts, such as
Snakefly,
Earwig,
Archaeognatha,
Neuroptera,
Phasmatodea,
Zygentoma, and
Lepidoptera.
These findings place
Quaranjavirus in a paraphyletic position to the other viruses of
Orthomyxoviridae with implications for taxonomic evaluations and virus evolution.
