美国威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校Tony L. Goldberg和德国弗里德里希·洛夫勒研究所Martin Beer课题组合作取得一项新突破。他们揭示了不同哺乳动物体内风疹病毒的亲缘关系。该研究于2020年10月7日在线发表于国际学术期刊《自然》。

在本研究中，研究人员分别探究了来源于非洲和欧洲的鲁胡古病毒和锈菌病毒，据研究人员介绍鲁胡古病毒是风疹病毒第一个已知的亲缘物种。在乌干达健康的独眼叶型鼻蝙蝠（Hipposideros cyclops）中发现了与风疹病毒具有最亲近亲缘关系的鲁胡古病毒。锈菌病毒所处的进化位置在风疹和鲁胡古病毒进化枝外，在德国一家动物园急性脑炎胎盘和有袋动物中以及该动物园及其附近的野生黄颈野鼠（Apodemus flavicollis）中发现。

鲁胡古病毒和锈菌病毒与风疹病毒具有相同的基因组结构。风疹、鲁胡古病毒和锈菌病毒融合蛋白（E1）中四个假定B细胞表位的氨基酸序列以及风疹和鲁胡古病毒衣壳蛋白中两个假定T细胞表位的氨基酸序列中等或高度保守。在融合后状态下E1同三聚体建模预测，鲁胡古病毒和风疹病毒具有相似的与宿主细胞膜融合能力。

这些发现表明，Matonaviridae家族的某些成员可以跨越宿主物种之间的实质性障碍，并且风疹病毒可能具有人畜共患病起源。该发现引起人们对风疹样病毒未来在人畜之间传播的担忧，但也有助于风疹和先天性风疹综合症的比较研究和动物建模。

研究人员表示，自1814年首次发现风疹以来，该病的起源及其病原体风疹病毒(Matonaviridae: Rubivirus)仍不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Relatives of rubella virus in diverse mammals

Author: Andrew J. Bennett, Adrian C. Paskey, Arnt Ebinger, Florian Pfaff, Grit Priemer, Dirk Hper, Angele Breithaupt, Elisa Heuser, Rainer G. Ulrich, Jens H. Kuhn, Kimberly A. Bishop-Lilly, Martin Beer, Tony L. Goldberg

Issue&Volume: 2020-10-07

Abstract: Since 1814, when rubella was first described, the origins of the disease and its causative agent, rubella virus (Matonaviridae: Rubivirus), have remained unclear1. Here we describe ruhugu virus and rustrela virus in Africa and Europe, respectively, which are, to our knowledge, the first known relatives of rubella virus. Ruhugu virus, which is the closest relative of rubella virus, was found in apparently healthy cyclops leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros cyclops) in Uganda. Rustrela virus, which is an outgroup to the clade that comprises rubella and ruhugu viruses, was found in acutely encephalitic placental and marsupial animals at a zoo in Germany and in wild yellow-necked field mice (Apodemus flavicollis) at and near the zoo. Ruhugu and rustrela viruses share an identical genomic architecture with rubella virus2,3. The amino acid sequences of four putative B cell epitopes in the fusion (E1) protein of the rubella, ruhugu and rustrela viruses and two putative T cell epitopes in the capsid protein of the rubella and ruhugu viruses are moderately to highly conserved4,5,6. Modelling of E1 homotrimers in the post-fusion state predicts that ruhugu and rubella viruses have a similar capacity for fusion with the host-cell membrane5. Together, these findings show that some members of the family Matonaviridae can cross substantial barriers between host species and that rubella virus probably has a zoonotic origin. Our findings raise concerns about future zoonotic transmission of rubella-like viruses, but will facilitate comparative studies and animal models of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2812-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2812-9