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Muju virus, a novel hantavirus harboured by the arvicolid rodent Myodes regulus in Korea

Sang Hyun Kim^1,

¹ Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
² Bank for Pathogenic Viruses, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
³ Force Health Protection, 18th Medical Command, Unit 15281, APO AP 96205, Korea
⁴ 5th Medical Detachment, 168th Medical Battalion (Area Support), 18th Medical Command, Unit 15247, APO AP 96205, Korea
⁵ Virology Division, US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, MD, USA
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

Correspondence
Jin-Won Song
jwsong{at}korea.ac.kr

Acute-phase sera from >5 % of cases of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome occurring annually in Korea have been found to exhibit a fourfold or higher antibody titre to Puumala virus (PUUV) than to Hantaan virus (HTNV) by double-sandwich IgM ELISA, suggesting the existence of a PUUV-related hantavirus. Based on the phylogenetic relationships among arvicolid rodents, the royal vole (Myodes regulus) was targeted as a likely reservoir host of hantavirus. Using RT-PCR, a genetically distinct hantavirus, designated Muju virus (MUJV), was detected in lung tissue of royal voles, captured in widely separated geographical regions in Korea during 1996–2007. Pairwise analysis of the full-length S (1857 nt) and M (3634 nt) segments of MUJV indicated approximately 77 % sequence similarity with PUUV. At the amino acid level, MUJV differed from PUUV by 5.5–6.9 % (nucleocapsid) and 10.0–11.6 % (Gn and Gc envelope glycoproteins). Interstrain variation of MUJV sequences from royal voles captured in different regions suggested geographic-specific clustering. Neutralizing antibody titres against PUUV were two- to sixfold higher than to HTNV in sera of MUJV-infected Myodes regulus. Although virus isolation attempts were unsuccessful, the collective data indicate that MUJV is a distinct hantavirus species.

Present address: College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the S and M genomic sequences of Muju virus determined in this study are DQ138125, DQ138127–DQ138144 and EF198313.

A supplementary table showing oligonucleotide primers for amplification of the S and M segments of MUJV is available with the online version of this paper.