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. 2002 Jun 1;185(11):1660-3.
doi: 10.1086/340518. Epub 2002 May 3.

Characterization of human metapneumoviruses isolated from patients in North America

Teresa C T Peret  1 , Guy Boivin, Yan Li, Michel Couillard, Charles Humphrey, Albert D M E Osterhaus, Dean D Erdman, Larry J Anderson
Affiliations

Characterization of human metapneumoviruses isolated from patients in North America

Teresa C T Peret et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) was recently identified in The Netherlands and was linked to acute respiratory tract illness. In this study, 11 isolates from 10 patients with respiratory disease from Quebec, Canada, were tested by a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction based on the fusion protein gene. Identified sequences were consistent with HMPV. The patients were 2 months to 87 years of age (median age, 58 years) and presented with acute respiratory tract illness during the winter season. Sequence studies of the nucleocapsid, fusion, and polymerase genes identified 2 main lineages of HMPV and cocirculation of both lineages during the same year. These findings support a previous finding that HMPV is a human respiratory pathogen that merits further study.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Negative-stain electron micrographs of human metapneumovirus (HMPV). Center image shows 5 pleomorphicHMPV particles; note the projections along the periphery of the viruses. The images in the upper right and lower left corners are, respectively, of the nucleocapsid and filamentous rod-like particle. Staining was done with 2% phosphotungstic acid. Bar markers represent 100 nm.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Phylogenetic relationships observed in maximum likelihood analysis of the human metapneumovirus nucleocapsid (A), polymerase (B), and fusion (C) nucleotide sequences (GenBank accession nos. AF371330-38, AF371356-63, AF371365, and AF37137). Bootstrap proportions, obtained from a 50% majority rule consensus tree, were plotted at the main internal branches of the phylogram to show the support values. For the bootstrap analysis under the maximum likelihood assumption, sequences were added randomly, and 1 tree was held at each step (100 bootstrap replicates) by applying the tree bisection-reconnection branch-swapping algorithm. Trees were midpoint rooted using minimum F value optimization. The partial sequence for CAN97-82 (polymerase gene) could not be obtained. Trees were drawn to scale. CAN, Canada; NLD, The Netherlands.
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