Characterization of a Novel Rat Hepatitis E Virus Isolated from an Asian Musk Shrew (Suncus murinus)
Huimin BaiWei LiDawei GuanJuan SuChangwen KeYasushi AmiYuriko SuzakiNaokazu TakedaMasamichi MuramatsuTian‐Cheng Li
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Abstract:
The Asian musk shrew (shrew) is a new reservoir of a rat hepatitis E virus (HEV) that has been classified into genotype HEV-C1 in the species Orthohepevirus C. However, there is no information regarding classification of the new rat HEV based on the entire genome sequences, and it remains unclear whether rat HEV transmits from shrews to humans. We herein inoculated nude rats (Long-Evans rnu/rnu) with a serum sample from a shrew trapped in China, which was positive for rat HEV RNA, to isolate and characterize the rat HEV distributed in shrews. A rat HEV strain, S1129, was recovered from feces of the infected nude rat, indicating that rat HEV was capable of replicating in rats. S1129 adapted and grew well in PLC/PRF/5 cells, and the recovered virus (S1129c1) infected Wistar rats. The entire genomes of S1129 and S1129c1 contain four open reading frames and share 78.3–81.8% of the nucleotide sequence identities with known rat HEV isolates, demonstrating that rat HEVs are genetically diverse. We proposed that genotype HEV-C1 be further classified into subtypes HEV-C1a to HEV-C1d and that the S1129 strain circulating in the shrew belonged to the new subtype HEV-C1d. Further studies should focus on whether the S1129 strain infects humans.Keywords:
Shrew
Hepatitis E Virus
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Strain (injury)
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The Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus) is a commensal species whose has become widespread across the Old World due to human activities. This species has been well studied in captivity as a laboratory animal; however, in the wild, its ecological habits are not well investigated. We conducted radio-telemetry surveys to determine home range, habitat selection, and activity patterns of the Asian house shrew over 1 week in September 2012 on Okinawa-jima Island, Japan. The home range size of male shrews was 2,556 m2 on average. The shrews were nocturnal, and they exhibited repetitive cycles of active and inactive during the night. The shrews did not move from dens during the daytime, although a few brief activities were observed near dens. Shrews favored grassland habitat as a nocturnal activity place (presumable foraging sites), whereas they favored under floors of artificial constructions as den sites. Our results suggest that Asian house shrews live in near human residential area to obtain the favorable den sites, and they do not absolutely need food resources from human activities for their settlement.
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The karyological relationship between the Japanese white- toothed shrew and the Japanese house shrew is examined, using G- and C-banding methods. The"homologous"chromosomes or chromosome regions between species as identified by the G-band homology amounted in total to almost 85% of the total chromosome length of C. d. chisai. These findings strongly indicate that the G-bands of these two shrew species have highly been conserved throughout the course of their phylogenesis in spite of marked differentiation in their morphology and ecological characteristics.
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92008 ?? 33 1214 Received 2.8.2007 ; a cepted 5.5.2008 Copyright © 8 MSJ Introduction The ho s musk shrew (Suncus murinus) is one of 15 species in the genus Suncus (Abe 1985). This species is widely distributed from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia, from tropical to subtropical regions, and its northernmost recorded habitat is in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan (Corbet and Hill 1992). In Japan, the house musk shrew has been an established laboratory animal since 1973, and several laboratory strains currently exist (e.g., KAT, NAG, RYU, TESS; Oda 1991). This is the only widely used laboratory animal belonging to the Insectivora; suncus is utilized for a variety of purposes, including emesis studies (Ueno et al. 1987; Uchino et al. 2006). The house musk shrew exhibits extreme morphological variations. For example, its body weight varies threeto fourfold among wild populations: male shrews in Bangladesh weigh more than 150 g, while males in Guam are less than 50 g (Tomita et al. 1984; Ishikawa et al. 1989). Variations also exist in the dentition (Hanamura et al. 1979; Jogahara et al. 2007), chromosome number (Minesawa 1985), and coat color (Iseki et al. 1984; Ishikawa et al. 1986, 1987, 1989). Moreover, mutations in coat color (cream and white) and eye color (red-eyed dilution) occur in wild populations (Oda and Shigehara 1978; Ohno et al. 1992, 1994). The most prominent form of albinism in mice is a tyrosinase gene mutation that results in a white coat and red eyes (Beermann et al. 2004). However, mutations in other pigment genes result in diverse phenotypes in mice and humans (Tomita and Suzuki 2004; Hearing 2005). Thus, phenotypic observations cannot determine if the tyrosinase gene mutation is present. Moreover, individuals with a white coat and normal eye color occur in many species, including the house musk shrew (Oda and Shigehara 1978). Hence, an albino-like shrew is defined as one having a pure white coat and red eyes (Fig. 1a). Three albino-like house musk shrews were captured on Okinawa Island, Japan. In this report, past capture records of albino-like house musk shrews in the Ryukyu Archipelago were reviewed and integrated present capture records to determine their distribution. Additionally, the captured albino-like house musk shrews were maintained in the laboratory, and bred with the RYU strain of suncus established from Okinawa Island. The RYU strain had been kept for over 4 years and over 60 litters have been obtained, although no record exists of coat color variation or albinism and red eyes. This is thus a report of preliminary findings on the inheritance of the albino-like gene. Five albino-like house musk shrews from Okinawa and Tarama Islands have been recorded since 1968 (Table 1). Although the house musk shrew is a common
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Coelom
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