Characterization of Eptesipoxvirus, a novel poxvirus from a microchiropteran bat

Abstract

The genome of Eptesipoxvirus (EPTV) is the first poxvirus genome isolated from a microbat. The 176,688 nt sequence, which is believed to encompass the complete coding region of the virus, is 67% A+T and is predicted to encode 191 genes. 11 of these genes have no counterpart in GenBank and are therefore unique to EPTV. The presence of a distantly related ortholog of Vaccinia virus F5L in EPTV uncovered a link with fragmented F5L orthologs in Molluscum contagiosum virus/squirrelpox and clade II viruses. Consistent with the unique position of EPTV approximately mid-point between the orthopoxviruses and the clade II viruses, EPTV has 11 genes that are specific to the orthopoxviruses and 13 genes that are typical, if not exclusive, to the clade II poxviruses. This mosaic nature of EPTV blurs the distinction between the old description of the orthopoxvirus and clade II groups. Genome annotation and characterization failed to find any common virulence genes shared with the other poxvirus isolated from bat (pteropoxvirus); however, EPTV encodes 3 genes that may have been transferred to or from deerpox and squirrelpox viruses; 2 of these, a putative endothelin-like protein and a MHC class I-like protein are likely to have immunomodulatory roles.

Keywords: Batpox; Eptesipoxvirus; NGS; Next-generation sequencing; Poxvirus.

Fig. 1

Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of EPTV with representatives of the Chordopoxvirinae subfamily; the MSA consisted of concatenated sequences of 7 conserved proteins: RPO147, RAP94, mRNA capping enzyme (large subunit), P4a precursor, RPO132, VETF-L, and DNA primase

Fig. 2

Amino acid (dark gray) and nucleotide (light gray) percent identities between EPTV and VACV-Cop gene sets