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Journal of Virology, May 2009, p. 5109-5116, Vol. 83, No. 10
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.02667-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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Departments of Molecular Microbiology and Pathology & Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110,1 Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 775512
Received 28 December 2008/ Accepted 26 February 2009
Here, we report the sequencing and classification of Nyamanini virus (NYMV) and Midway virus (MIDWV), two antigenically related viruses that were first isolated in 1957 and 1966, respectively. Although these viruses have been cultured multiple times from cattle egrets, seabirds, and their ticks, efforts to classify them taxonomically using conventional serological and electron microscopic approaches have failed completely. We used a random shotgun sequencing strategy to define the genomes of NYMV and MIDWV. Contigs of 11,631 and 11,752 nucleotides, representing the complete genome of NYMV and the near-complete genome of MIDWV, respectively, were assembled. Each virus genome was predicted to carry six open reading frames (ORFs). BLAST analysis indicated that only two of the ORF proteins of each virus, the putative nucleocapsid and polymerase, had detectable sequence similarity to known viral proteins. Phylogenetic analysis of these ORF proteins demonstrated that the closest relatives of NYNV and MIDWV are negative-stranded-RNA viruses in the order Mononegavirales. On the basis of their very limited sequence similarity to known viruses, we propose that NYMV and MIDWV define a novel genus, Nyavirus, in this order.
Published ahead of print on 11 March 2009.
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