Hypsugopoxvirus: A Novel Poxvirus Isolated from Hypsugo savii in Italy

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 11; no. 6; p. 568
• Main Authors: Lelli, Davide, Lavazza, Antonio, Prosperi, Alice, Sozzi, Enrica, Faccin, Francesca, Baioni, Laura, Trogu, Tiziana, Cavallari, Gian Luca, Mauri, Matteo, Gibellini, Anna Maria, Chiapponi, Chiara, Moreno, Ana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Annotations; Antigens; Bats; Bioinformatics; Brief Report; Cell culture; DNA viruses; Fractures; Genes; Genomes; Hypsugo savii; Invertebrates; Italy; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Poxviridae; poxvirus; Viral infections; Viruses; Zoonoses; Italy; bats; Italy; poxvirus
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v11060568

Interest in bat-related viruses has increased considerably during the last decade, leading to the discovery of a rising number of new viruses in several bat species. are a large, diverse family of DNA viruses that can infect a wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates. To date, only a few documented detections of poxviruses have been described in bat populations on three different continents (America, Africa, and Australia). These viruses are phylogenetically dissimilar and have diverse clinical impacts on their hosts. Herein, we report the isolation, nearly complete genome sequencing, and annotation of a novel poxvirus detected from an insectivorous bat ( ) in Northern Italy. The virus is tentatively named Hypsugopoxvirus (HYPV) after the bat species from which it was isolated. The nearly complete genome size is 166,600 nt and it encodes 161 genes. Genome analyses suggest that HYPV belongs to the Chordopoxvirinae subfamily, with the highest nucleotide identity (85%) to Eptesipoxvirus (EPTV) detected from a microbat in WA, USA, in 2011. To date, HYPV represents the first poxvirus detected in bats in Europe; thus, its viral ecology and disease associations should be investigated further.