RESUMEN
In the future, zoonotic spillover events are expected to occur more frequently. Consequences of such events have clearly been demonstrated by recent outbreaks of monkeypox, Ebola virus, and the well-known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Virus discovery has proven to be an important tool in the preparation against viral outbreaks, generating data concerning the diversity, quantity, and ecology of the vertebrate virome. Orthoparamyxoviruses, a subfamily within the Paramyxoviridae, are important biosurveillance targets, since they include several known animal, human, and zoonotic pathogens such as Nipah virus, measles virus, and Hendra virus. During this study, 127 bat samples, thirty-four rodent samples, and seventeen shrew samples originating from Belgium were screened for orthoparamyxovirus presence using nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays and nanopore sequencing. We present here the complete genomes of six putative new viral species, belonging to the genera Jeilongvirus and Henipavirus. Characterization of these genomes revealed significant differences in gene composition and organization, both within viruses of the same genus and between viruses of different genera. Remarkably, a previously undetected gene coding for a protein of unknown function was identified in the genome of a putative new Henipavirus. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis of jeilongviruses and henipaviruses reveals a division of both genera into two clades, one consisting of bat-borne viruses and the other consisting of rodent- and shrew-borne viruses, elucidating the need for proper reclassification.
RESUMEN
The subfamily Orthoparamyxovirinae is a group of single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses that contains many human, animal, and zoonotic pathogens. While there are currently only forty-two recognized species in this subfamily, recent research has revealed that much of its diversity remains to be characterized. Using a newly developed nested PCR-based screening assay, we report here the discovery of fifteen orthoparamyxoviruses in rodents and shrews from Belgium and Guinea, thirteen of which are believed to represent new species. Using a combination of nanopore and sanger sequencing, complete genomes could be determined for almost all these viruses, enabling a detailed evaluation of their genome characteristics. While most viruses are thought to belong to the rapidly expanding genus Jeilongvirus, we also identify novel members of the genera Narmovirus, Henipavirus, and Morbillivirus. Together with other recently discovered orthoparamyxoviruses, both henipaviruses and the morbillivirus discovered here appear to form distinct rodent-/shrew-borne clades within their respective genera, clustering separately from all currently classified viruses. In the case of the henipaviruses, a comparison of the different members of this clade revealed the presence of a secondary conserved open reading frame, encoding for a transmembrane protein, within the F gene, the biological relevance of which remains to be established. While the characteristics of the viruses described here shed further light on the complex evolutionary origin of paramyxoviruses, they also illustrate that the diversity of this group of viruses in terms of genome organization appears to be much larger than previously assumed.
