Identification and Genomic Characterization of Two Novel Hepatoviruses in Shrews from Yunnan Province, China
Yi Tang,
Kai Zhao,
Hong-Min Yin,
Li-Ping Yang,
Yue-Chun Wu,
Feng-Yi Li,
Ze Yang,
Hui-Xuan Lu,
Bo Wang,
Yin Yang,
Yun-Zhi Zhang,
Xing-Lou Yang
Affiliations
Yi Tang
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Key Laboratory for Cross-Border Control and Quarantine of Zoonoses in Universities of Yunnan Province, Institute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
Kai Zhao
Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Information, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
Hong-Min Yin
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Key Laboratory for Cross-Border Control and Quarantine of Zoonoses in Universities of Yunnan Province, Institute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
Li-Ping Yang
Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Information, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
Yue-Chun Wu
Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Information, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
Feng-Yi Li
Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Information, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
Ze Yang
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Key Laboratory for Cross-Border Control and Quarantine of Zoonoses in Universities of Yunnan Province, Institute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
Hui-Xuan Lu
Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Information, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
Bo Wang
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Yin Yang
Department of Medical, The Second People’s Hospital of Dali Prefecture, Dali 67100, China
Yun-Zhi Zhang
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Key Laboratory for Cross-Border Control and Quarantine of Zoonoses in Universities of Yunnan Province, Institute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
Xing-Lou Yang
Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Information, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
Hepatitis A virus (HAV), a member of the genus Hepatovirus (Picornaviridae HepV), remains a significant viral pathogen, frequently causing enterically transmitted hepatitis worldwide. In this study, we conducted an epidemiological survey of HepVs carried by small terrestrial mammals in the wild in Yunnan Province, China. Utilizing HepV-specific broad-spectrum RT-PCR, next-generation sequencing (NGS), and QNome nanopore sequencing (QNS) techniques, we identified and characterized two novel HepVs provisionally named EpMa-HAV and EpLe-HAV, discovered in the long-tailed mountain shrew (Episoriculus macrurus) and long-tailed brown-toothed shrew (Episoriculus leucops), respectively. Our sequence and phylogenetic analyses of EpMa-HAV and EpLe-HAV indicated that they belong to the species Hepatovirus I (HepV-I) clade II, also known as the Chinese shrew HepV clade. Notably, the codon usage bias pattern of novel shrew HepVs is consistent with that of previously identified Chinese shrew HepV. Furthermore, our structural analysis demonstrated that shrew HepVs differ from other mammalian HepVs in RNA secondary structure and exhibit variances in key protein sites. Overall, the discovery of two novel HepVs in shrews expands the host range of HepV and underscores the existence of genetically diverse animal homologs of human HAV within the genus HepV.
