Unprecedented genomic diversity of RNA viruses in arthropods reveals the ancestry of negative-sense RNA viruses

Many illnesses, including influenza, hemorrhagic fever, and rabies, are caused by a group of viruses called negative-sense RNA viruses. The genetic information—or genome—of these viruses is encoded in strands of RNA that must be copied before they can be translated into the proteins needed to build new viruses. It is currently known that there are at least eight different families of these viruses, which have a wide range of shapes and sizes and arrange their RNA in different ways. Insects, spiders, and other arthropods carry many different RNA viruses. Many of these viruses have not previously been studied, and those that have been studied so far are mainly those that cause diseases in humans and other vertebrates. Researchers therefore only know a limited amount about the diversity of the negative-sense RNA viruses that arthropods harbor and how these viruses evolved. Studying how viruses evolve helps scientists to understand what makes some viruses deadly and others harmless and can also help develop treatments or vaccines for the diseases caused by the viruses. Li, Shi, Tian, Lin, Kang et al. collected 70 species of insects, spiders, centipedes, and other arthropods in China and sequenced all the negative-sense RNA viruses in the creatures. This revealed an enormous number of negative-sense RNA viruses, including 112 new viruses. Many of the newly discovered arthropod viruses appear to be the ancestors of disease-causing viruses, including influenza viruses and the filoviruses—the group that includes the Ebola virus. Indeed, it appears that arthropods host many—if not all—of the negative-sense RNA viruses that cause disease in vertebrates and plants. While documenting the new RNA viruses and how they are related to each other, Li et al. found many different genome structures. Some genomes were segmented, which may play an important role in evolution as segments can be easily swapped to create new genetic combinations. Non-segmented and circular genomes were also found. This genetic diversity suggests that arthropods are likely to have played a key role in the evolution of new viruses by acting as a site where many different viruses can interact and exchange genetic information.