ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Virology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1551155
Identification and characterization of two putative novel genera of arteriviruses in shrews and rats
Provisionally accepted
- 1Foshan University, Foshan, China
- 2Guangdong Provincial Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- 3College of Animal Science and Technology, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
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Certain arteriviruses causing severe diseases in domestic animals, such as porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome viruses, could originate through viral spillover, and simian arteriviruses pose threats to public health through viral spillover. To prepare for the spillover risks, it is desirable to delve into the diversity, evolution, and potential pathogenicity of arteriviruses in non-human primates, shrews, and rats, which are close in phylogenetics to humans or share the same habitats with humans and domestic animals. In this study, a variety of viruses in Asian house shrews (Suncus murinus) and brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) were detected using highthroughput sequencing and virome analysis, and two viruses were identified as novel genera of arteriviruses according to the demarcation criterion of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The two novel arteriviruses contained arterivirustypical genomic structures, and they were different from classified arteriviruses in the N-linked glycosylation sites of their glycoproteins. Frameshift mutations, rather than genomic recombination, played a crucial role in the genetic divergence of the two viruses. These results expand the knowledge about the genetic diversity and evolution of shrew viruses, rodent viruses, and arteriviruses and provide scientific data for controlling the risks posed by shrew viruses and rodent viruses to humans and livestock.
Keywords: Arterivirus, shrew, rat, Genome, Glycosylation, Mutation, evolution
Received: 24 Dec 2024; Accepted: 09 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Gong, CHEN, Tan, Shao, Chen, Lu and Liao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jiming Chen, Foshan University, Foshan, China
Shousheng Lu, Guangdong Provincial Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Ming Liao, College of Animal Science and Technology, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510100, Guangdong, China
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