Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jul 7;9(7):e18095.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18095. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Morbillivirus: A highly adaptable viral genus

Jane E Libbey  1 , Robert S Fujinami  1
Affiliations
Review

Morbillivirus: A highly adaptable viral genus

Jane E Libbey et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Over the course of human history, numerous diseases have been caused by the transmission of viruses from an animal reservoir into the human population. The viruses of the genus Morbillivirus are human and animal pathogens that emerged from a primordial ancestor a millennia ago and have been transmitting to new hosts, adapting, and evolving ever since. Through interaction with susceptible individuals, as yet undiscovered morbilliviruses or existing morbilliviruses in animal hosts could cause future zoonotic diseases in humans.

Keywords: Canine distemper; Measles; Morbillivirus; Rinderpest.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic representations of the Morbillivirus genome and virion. The size of the genomic RNA varies from 15,040 nucleotides for a representative rodent morbillivirus genome to 16,050 nucleotides for the FeMV genome. The non-structural C protein is encoded by an overlapping open reading frame while the non-structural V protein is encoded through RNA editing. The pleiomorphic virions are approximately 200 nm in diameter. The nucleocapsid of the virion is made up of the genomic RNA and N proteins which associate with the L and P proteins. The envelope is a lipid bilayer, acquired from the host cell, through which the H and F proteins project from the surface of the virion. The M protein interacts with both the nucleocapsid and the envelope H and F proteins. The color of the transcription unit in the genome matches the color of the protein in the virion. FeMV, feline morbillivirus. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Host species (not all inclusive) known to be commonly infected (endemic/epidemic/reservoir) with morbilliviruses. Expansion of the host range of PPRV, CeMV, and CDV are indicated by the adjacent/attached bubbles of the same color. RPV has been eradicated as indicated by the red X. The phylogenetic relationships of the morbilliviruses are roughly indicated by the black bars. CDV, canine distemper virus; CeMV, cetacean morbillivirus; FeMV, feline morbillivirus; MBaMV, Myotitis bat morbillivirus; MeV, measles virus; MV, morbillivirus; PDV, phocine distemper virus; PoMV, porcine morbillivirus; PPRV, pestis-des-petits-ruminants virus; RPV, rinderpest virus. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Possible path of interspecies transmission for the morbilliviruses. An RPV-like bovine morbillivirus may be the archevirus of the entire viral group, having evolved from a progenitor morbillivirus. This figure does not reflect the fact that interspecies transmission of virus may have occurred multiple times, and may have occurred in both directions, in the process of virus establishing itself within a new host species. CDV, canine distemper virus; CeMV, cetacean morbillivirus; FeMV, feline morbillivirus; MBaMV, Myotitis bat morbillivirus; MeV, measles virus; MV, morbillivirus; PDV, phocine distemper virus; PoMV, porcine morbillivirus; PPRV, pestis-des-petits-ruminants virus; RPV, rinderpest virus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barrett T. The molecular biology of the morbillivirus (measles) group. Biochem. Soc. Symp. 1987;53:25–37. - PubMed
    1. Barrett T., Rossiter P.B. Rinderpest: the disease and its impact on humans and animals. Adv. Virus Res. 1999;53:89–110. doi: 10.1016/s0065-3527(08)60344-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Griffin D.E. In: Fields Virology. sixth ed. Knipe D.M., Howley P.M., editors. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; Philadelphia: 2013. Measles virus; pp. 1042–1069.
    1. Nambulli S., Sharp C.R., Acciardo A.S., Drexler J.F., Duprex W.P. Mapping the evolutionary trajectories of morbilliviruses: what, where and whither. Curr. Opin. Virol. 2016;16:95–105. doi: 10.1016/j.coviro.2016.01.019. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Afonso C.L., Amarasinghe G.K., Bányai K., Bào Y., Basler C.F., Bavari S., Bejerman N., Blasdell K.R., Briand F.X., Briese T., Bukreyev A., Calisher C.H., Chandran K., Chéng J., Clawson A.N., Collins P.L., Dietzgen R.G., Dolnik O., Domier L.L., Dürrwald R., Dye J.M., Easton A.J., Ebihara H., Farkas S.L., Freitas-Astúa J., Formenty P., Fouchier R.A.M., Fù Y., Ghedin E., Goodin M.M., Hewson R., Horie M., Hyndman T.H., Jiāng D., Kitajima E.W., Kobinger G.P., Kondo H., Kurath G., Lamb R.A., Lenardon S., Leroy E.M., Li C.X., Lin X.D., Liú L., Longdon B., Marton S., Maisner A., Mühlberger E., Netesov S.v., Nowotny N., Patterson J.L., Payne S.L., Paweska J.T., Randall R.E., Rima B.K., Rota P., Rubbenstroth D., Schwemmle M., Shi M., Smither S.J., Stenglein M.D., Stone D.M., Takada A., Terregino C., Tesh R.B., Tian J.H., Tomonaga K., Tordo N., Towner J.S., Vasilakis N., Verbeek M., Volchkov V.E., Wahl-Jensen V., Walsh J.A., Walker P.J., Wang D., Wang L.F., Wetzel T., Whitfield A.E., Xiè J., Yuen K.Y., Zhang Y.Z., Kuhn J.H. Taxonomy of the order Mononegavirales: update 2016. Arch. Virol. 2016;161:2351–2360. doi: 10.1007/s00705-016-2880-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources