HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mittelholzer, C. Articles by Svensson, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Mittelholzer, C. Articles by Svensson, L. Agricola Articles by Mittelholzer, C. Articles by Svensson, L.

Molecular characterization of a novel astrovirus associated with disease in mink

Christian Mittelholzer^1,

Lennart Svensson^1,

¹ Department of Virology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, S-171 82 Solna, Sweden
² Department of Molecular Epidemiology and Biotechnology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, S-171 82 Solna, Sweden
³ Department of Small Animals, National Veterinary Institute, S-751 89 Uppsala, Sweden
⁴ Department of Poultry, Fish and Fur Animals, Danish Veterinary Institute, DK-8200 Århus, Denmark

Correspondence
Christian Mittelholzer
christian.mittelholzer{at}imr.no

Pre-weaning diarrhoea is a well-known problem in mink farming in Europe, causing morbidity that varies between farms, regions and season. Different causalities for the disease have been proposed, but only most recently has a novel astrovirus been identified as an important risk factor. In this report, the molecular characterization, origin and evolution of this novel astrovirus of mink are discussed. The polyadenylated, positive-stranded RNA genome was sequenced and found to contain 6610 nt, organized into three ORFs and two short UTRs. A ribosomal frameshift sequence links the 5' two ORFs, containing sequence motifs for a serine protease (ORF1a) and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (ORF1b). The structural proteins are encoded by ORF2 and, presumably, are expressed as a polyprotein precursor to be cleaved into the mature capsid proteins. These results indicate that mink astrovirus (MiAstV) has all of the features typical of members of the Astroviridae. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that MiAstV is distantly related to established astroviruses, showing less than 67 % similarity at the nucleotide level with its closest relative, ovine astrovirus, and even lower identities at the predicted amino acid level. Nevertheless, sequence analysis of MiAstV isolates from geographically distinct Swedish and Danish farms showed much less diversity. This suggests either the spread in the mink population of a virus that has evolved a long time ago or the recent introduction of an ancient virus into a new host species.

The GenBank accession number of the sequence reported in this paper is AY179509.

Present address: Institute of Marine Research, Department of Aquaculture, N-5392 Storebø, Norway.

Present address: Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Linköping, S-581 85 Linköping, Sweden.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. Fu, M. Pan, X. Wang, Y. Xu, X. Xie, N. J. Knowles, H. Yang, and D. Zhang Complete sequence of a duck astrovirus associated with fatal hepatitis in ducklings J. Gen. Virol., May 1, 2009; 90(5): 1104 - 1108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. K. W. Chu, L. L. M. Poon, Y. Guan, and J. S. M. Peiris Novel Astroviruses in Insectivorous Bats J. Virol., September 15, 2008; 82(18): 9107 - 9114. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]