Expanding the size limit of RNA viruses: Evidence of a novel divergent nidovirus in California sea hare, with a ~35.9 kb virus genome

While RNA viruses thrive with massive structural and functional diversity, their genomes size variation is particularly low, ranging only from ~2-to-33 kb. Here, I present the characterization of RNA sequences corresponding to the first virus associated with Aplysia californica. Genome structure and domain architecture suggest that the identified virus is a novel member of Nidovirales. The proposed aplysia californica nido-like virus (AcNV), with a genome sequence of ca.35,906 nt, represents the longest ever recorded RNA virus yet. Phylogenetic insights indicate that AcNV clusters in a major phylloclade of unclassified invertebrate nidoviruses, Roniviridae, and Mesoniviridae. Basal branching in this emerging cluster could indicate that AcNV is a member of a novel divergent clade within Nidovirales. Further, virus RNA detection in multiple independent studies suggests that AcNV is neurotropic with a broad cell/tissue/organ tropism, supported by AcNV occurrence in diverse organs, including the first detection of a Nidovirales in single specific neurons.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Debat, Humberto Julio
Format: info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo biblioteca
Language:eng
Published: BioRxiv 2018-04-24
Subjects:Nidovirales, RNA Viruses, Virología, Aplysia Californica, Virus Discovery, Single-Cell Virology, Neurotropic Virus,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/12109
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/307678v1
https://doi.org/10.1101/307678
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