Detection and molecular characterization of Mogiana tick virus (MGTV) in Rhipicephalus microplus collected from cattle in a savannah area, Uberlândia, Brazil

• Published in: Ticks and tick-borne diseases Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 162 - 165
• Main Authors: Pascoal, Jamile de Oliveira, Siqueira, Samantha Maciel de, Maia, Rodrigo da Costa, Juan Szabó, Matias Pablo, Yokosawa, Jonny
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier GmbH 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Animals; Bovine; Cattle; Female; Male; Mogiana tick virus; Phylogeny; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction - veterinary; Rhipicephalus - virology; Rhipicephalus microplus; RNA Viruses - genetics; RNA Viruses - isolation & purification; Savannah Brazil; Sequence Alignment - veterinary; Sequence Analysis, DNA - veterinary; Viral Nonstructural Proteins - genetics; Virus; Virus; Savannah Brazil; Bovine; Mogiana tick virus; Rhipicephalus microplus
• ISSN: 1877-959X; 1877-9603
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.10.002

In Brazil, recent studies have reported viruses detected in ticks with pathogenic potential in vertebrate hosts. Ticks of the species Rhipicephalus microplus collected from bovines in a savannah area were tested by RT-PCR for the presence of RNA targetting a segment of NS3-like protein gene of Mogiana tick virus, a member of the recently-described Jingmenvirus group. Amplification with size similar to the expected was observed with 25% (7/28) RNA samples of ticks that were collected from 39% (7/18) of the bovines. Nucleotide sequence analysis of three PCR products revealed divergence that varied from 3.3 to 5.0% in a single farm. Although Jingmen tick virus, another member belonging to the Jingmenvirus group, has been detected in human patients with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Kosovo, whether or not MGTV causes disease in cattle and other animals remains to be investigated.