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Updated: Aug 6, 2025

A Rapid Strategy for the Isolation of New Faustoviruses from Environmental Samples Using Vermamoeba vermiformis
Published on: June 4, 2016
Emergence of an ancient and pathogenic mammarenavirus
Xue-Lian Luo1,2,3,4, Shan Lu1,2,3,4, Chuan Qin5
1State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Emerging zoonoses of wildlife origin caused by previously unknown agents are one of the most important challenges for human health. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau represents a unique ecological niche with diverse wildlife that harbours several human pathogens and numerous previously uncharacterized pathogens. In this study, we identified and characterized a novel arenavirus (namely, plateau pika virus, PPV) from plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by virome analysis. Isolated PPV strains could replicate in several mammalian cells. We further investigated PPV pathogenesis using animal models. PPV administered via an intraventricular route caused trembling and sudden death in IFNαβR-/- mice, and pathological inflammatory lesions in brain tissue were observed. According to a retrospective serological survey in the geographical region where PPV was isolated, PPV-specific IgG antibodies were detected in 8 (2.4%) of 335 outpatients with available sera. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that this virus was clearly separated from previously reported New and Old World mammarenaviruses. Under the co-speciation framework, the estimated divergence time of PPV was 77-88 million years ago (MYA), earlier than that of OW and NW mammarenaviruses (26-34 MYA).
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