Leafhopper Psammotettix alienus hosts chuviruses with different genomic structures.

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Entomology
• Genomics

Background:

• Psammotettix alienus leafhoppers cause significant economic damage through sap-feeding and virus transmission.
• Chuviruses are a genus of viruses known to infect various hosts.
• Understanding viral diversity in insect vectors is crucial for disease control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To sequence and characterize a novel chuvirus found in the leafhopper Psammotettix alienus.
• To investigate the genomic features and evolutionary relationships of the newly identified virus.
• To explore the potential for co-infection with multiple chuvirus species in a single host.

Main Methods:

• Whole-genome sequencing using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq).
• Rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) to obtain the full genomic sequence.
• Bioinformatic analysis to determine open reading frames (ORFs) and compare sequence identities.

Main Results:

• The complete genome of Hancheng leafhopper mivirus (HCLeV) was obtained, measuring 9,852 nucleotides.
• HCLeV possesses two open reading frames encoding nucleocapsid and large polymerase proteins.
• Sequence analysis revealed low amino acid identities (27.1-44.4%) with known chuviruses and other related viruses.
• The study identified the presence of two distinct chuvirus species within the same leafhopper host.
• HCLeV exhibits unique genomic structural features, suggesting it may represent a new species within the Chuviridae family.

Conclusions:

• The discovery of HCLeV expands the known diversity of chuviruses.
• The novel genomic structure of HCLeV highlights broader genomic variability within the Chuviridae family.
• This finding contributes to our understanding of virus evolution and host-virus interactions in insect vectors.