Subspecific rodent taxa as the relevant host taxonomic level for mammarenavirus host specificity

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Authors

CUYPERS Laura N. GRYSEELS Sophie VAN HOUTTE Natalie BAIRD Stuart J. E. SABUNI Christopher A. KATAKWEBA Abdul S. VAN DEN BURG Sebastiaan R. M. BRYJA Josef LEIRS Herwig DE BELLOCQ Joëlle Goüy

Year of publication 2023
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Virology
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2023.02.014
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2023.02.014
Keywords Host specificity; Host genetic structure; Comparative phylogeography; Songea virus; Berega virus; Ngerengere virus; Mus minutoides; Grammomys surdaster; Spill-over; Host jump
Description Mastomys natalensis-borne mammarenaviruses appear specific to subspecific M. natalensis taxa rather than to the whole species. Yet mammarenaviruses carried by M. natalensis are known to spill over and jump hosts in northern sub-Saharan Africa. Phylogeographic studies increasingly show that, like M. natalensis, small mammals in sub-Saharan Africa are often genetically structured into several subspecific taxa. Other mammarenaviruses may thus also form virus-subspecific host taxon associations. To investigate this, and if mammarenaviruses carried by M. natalensis in southern Africa are less prone to spill-over, we screened 1225 non -M. natalensis samples from Tanzania where many small mammal taxa meet. We found mammarenavirus RNA in 6 samples. Genetic/genomic characterisation confirmed they were not spill-over from M. natalensis. We detected host jumps among rodent tribe members and an association between mammarenaviruses and subspecific taxa of Mus minutoides and Grammomys surdaster, indicating host genetic structure may be crucial to understand virus distribution and host specificity.
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