The First Non-LRV RNA Virus in <i>Leishmania</i>

oleh: Danyil Grybchuk, Diego H. Macedo, Yulia Kleschenko, Natalya Kraeva, Alexander N. Lukashev, Paul A. Bates, Pavel Kulich, Tereza Leštinová, Petr Volf, Alexei Y. Kostygov, Vyacheslav Yurchenko

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-02-01

Deskripsi

In this work, we describe the first <i>Leishmania</i>-infecting leishbunyavirus&#8212;the first virus other than <i>Leishmania RNA virus</i> (LRV) found in trypanosomatid parasites. Its host is <i>Leishmania martiniquensis</i>, a human pathogen causing infections with a wide range of manifestations from asymptomatic to severe visceral disease. This virus (<i>Lmar</i>LBV1) possesses many characteristic features of leishbunyaviruses, such as tripartite organization of its RNA genome, with ORFs encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, surface glycoprotein, and nucleoprotein on L, M, and S segments, respectively. Our phylogenetic analyses suggest that <i>Lmar</i>LBV1 originated from leishbunyaviruses of monoxenous trypanosomatids and, probably, is a result of genomic re-assortment. The <i>Lmar</i>LBV1 facilitates parasites&#8217; infectivity in vitro in primary murine macrophages model. The discovery of a virus in <i>L. martiniquensis</i> poses the question of whether it influences pathogenicity of this parasite in vivo, similarly to the LRV in other <i>Leishmania</i> species.