The above comments describe a new species of Ebola that is spreading along the west coast of Uganda, just east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The description of the new species sounds like a recombinant. Recently homologous recombination was described for Ebolavirus. These recombinations may have led to prior human outbreaks involving the Zaire species. Ebola is negative sense RNA virus. Prior to the report of Ebolavirus recombination, homologous recombination in negative sense RNA viruses was discounted, although recombination in positive sense RNA viruses including coronaviruses was widely accepted. However, since both negative and positive sense virus use the same base pairing rules to replicate, using one strand as a template for the other strand, the rationale for the distinction remains unclear. Similarly, homologous recombination in influenza, another negative sense RNA virus, has been discounted, although clear examples of recombination are present in the influenza sequence database. Examples include long stretches of genes, short clusters, and single nucleotide polymorphisms. Moreover, Zaire ebolavirus (see list here) and influenza H5 envelope genes (see list here) share a 18 BP region of identity, raising the possibility of recombination between the two negative sense RNA viruses. The identity in H5 traces back to the first H5N1 sequences, from a chicken in Scotland in 1959, although most of the H5 identities are in low path H5, which is transported and transmitted by waterfowl, including waterfowl in Africa. The current Ebola outbreak is near the Rift Valley and Lake Victoria, regions with significant biodiversity and potential co-infections and recombination. The envelope sequence of the new Ebola species would be of interest. Media Links Recombinomics Presentations Recombinomics Publications Recombinomics Paper at Nature Precedings flutrackers/forum/showpost.php?p=111945&postcount=14
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 21:20:13 +0000