Magboi virus (MGBV) is a novel, bat-borne

Orthohantavirus ''Orthohantavirus'' is a genus of viruses that includes all hantaviruses (family ''Hantaviridae'') that cause disease in humans. Orthohantaviruses, hereafter referred to as hantaviruses, are naturally found primarily in rodents. In general, each ...

discovered in a

slit-faced bat ''Nycteris'' comprises a genus of bats commonly called slit-faced or hollow-faced bats. They are grouped in the family Nycteridae. The bats are found in East Malaysia, Indonesia, and many parts of Africa. Description They are small bats, from i ...

trapped near the Magboi Stream in eastern

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

in 2011. It is a single-stranded, negative sense,

RNA virus An RNA virus is a virus characterized by a ribonucleic acid (RNA) based genome. The genome can be single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) or double-stranded (Double-stranded RNA, dsRNA). Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses include influenza, SARS, ...

in the

Bunyavirales ''Bunyaviricetes'' is a class of segmented negative-strand RNA viruses with mainly tripartite genomes. Member viruses infect arthropods, plants, protozoans, and vertebrates. The name ''Bunyaviricetes'' derives from Bunyamwera, where the virus Bun ...

order.

Molecular virology

The discovery represented the first time a hantavirus was detected in a bat, although bats as a reservoir for hantavirus had been long suspected. On the basis of a maximum-likelihood

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...

, the sequence isolated from the Magboi River bat does not cluster with rodent-associated hantaviruses but groups with those found in shrews and moles. This raises the question of the real hantavirus host range. Bats are already known to harbor a broad variety of emerging pathogens, including other bunyaviruses. Their ability to fly and social life history enable efficient pathogen maintenance, evolution, and spread.Murphy WJ, Eizirik E, Johnson WE, Zhang YP, Ryder OA, O’Brien SJ Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of placental mammals. Nature. 2001;409:614–8. doi: 10.1038/35054550. ubMed ross Ref/ref>

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16985075 Animal viruses Species described in 2011 Viruses described in the 21st century Chiroptera-borne diseases Hantaviridae Hemorrhagic fevers

Molecular virology

See also

References