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Journal of Virology, June 2009, p. 6184-6191, Vol. 83, No. 12
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.00371-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Characterization of Imjin Virus, a Newly Isolated Hantavirus from the Ussuri White-Toothed Shrew (Crocidura lasiura){triangledown}

Jin-Won Song,1* Hae Ji Kang,1 Se Hun Gu,1 Sung Sil Moon,1 Shannon N. Bennett,2 Ki-Joon Song,1 Luck Ju Baek,1 Heung-Chul Kim,3 Monica L. O'Guinn,4 Sung-Tae Chong,3 Terry A. Klein,4 and Richard Yanagihara2

Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Institute for Viral Diseases and Bank for Pathogenic Viruses, Korea University, Seoul 136-705, Republic of Korea,1 Departments of Pediatrics and Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813,2 5th Medical Detachment, 168th Multifunctional Medical Battalion, 65th Medical Brigade, Unit 15247, APO AP 96205,3 Preventive Medicine Activity, USAMEDDAC-Korea, Unit 15281, APO AP 962054

Received 19 February 2009/ Accepted 1 April 2009

Until recently, the single known exception to the rodent-hantavirus association was Thottapalayam virus (TPMV), a long-unclassified virus isolated from the Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus). Robust gene amplification techniques have now uncovered several genetically distinct hantaviruses from shrews in widely separated geographic regions. Here, we report the characterization of a newly identified hantavirus, designated Imjin virus (MJNV), isolated from the lung tissues of Ussuri white-toothed shrews of the species Crocidura lasiura (order Soricomorpha, family Soricidae, subfamily Crocidurinae) captured near the demilitarized zone in the Republic of Korea during 2004 and 2005. Seasonal trapping revealed the highest prevalence of MJNV infection during the autumn, with evidence of infected shrews' clustering in distinct foci. Also, marked male predominance among anti-MJNV immunoglobulin G antibody-positive Ussuri shrews was found, whereas the male-to-female ratio among seronegative Ussuri shrews was near 1. Plaque reduction neutralization tests showed no cross neutralization for MJNV and rodent-borne hantaviruses but one-way cross neutralization for MJNV and TPMV. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences for the different MJNV genomic segments revealed nearly the same calculated distances from hantaviruses harbored by rodents in the subfamilies Murinae, Arvicolinae, Neotominae, and Sigmodontinae. Phylogenetic analyses of full-length S, M, and L segment sequences demonstrated that MJNV shared a common ancestry with TPMV and remained in a distinct out-group, suggesting early evolutionary divergence. Studies are in progress to determine if MJNV is pathogenic for humans.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Korea University, 5-Ka, Anam-dong, Sungbug-gu, Seoul 136-705, Republic of Korea. Phone: 82 (2) 920-6408. Fax: 82 (2) 923-3645. E-mail: jwsong{at}korea.ac.kr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 April 2009.

Journal of Virology, June 2009, p. 6184-6191, Vol. 83, No. 12
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.00371-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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