Regular Article
Phylogenetic Analysis of theArenaviridae:Patterns of Virus Evolution and Evidence for Cospeciation between Arenaviruses and Their Rodent Hosts,☆☆

https://doi.org/10.1006/mpev.1997.0436Get rights and content

Abstract

Viruses of theArenaviridaecause hemorrhagic fevers and neurologic disease in humans. Historically, the arenaviruses have been divided into two complexes (LASV-LCMV, Tacaribe) through the use of antigenic typing. The phylogeny of theArenaviridaeas a whole has not been estimated previously due to a lack of sequence data for all members of the family. In this study, nucleocapsid protein gene sequence data were obtained for all currently known arenaviruses and used to estimate, for the first time, a phylogeny of the entire virus family. The LCMV-LASV complex arenaviruses are monophyletic and comprise three distinct lineages. The Tacaribe complex viruses also are monophyletic and occupy three distinct lineages. Comparisons of arenavirus phylogeny with rodent host phylogeny and taxonomic relationships provide several examples in which virus–host cospeciation is potentially occurring. The pathogenic arenaviruses do not appear to be monophyletic, suggesting that the pathogenic phenotype has arisen in multiple independent events during virus evolution.

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    The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank sequence database and assigned Accession Nos. U80003 to U80009.

    ☆☆

    F. A. MurphyC. M. FauquetD. H. L. BishopS. A. GhabrialA. W. JarvisG. P. Martelli, Eds.et al.

    2

    To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed at present address: Special Pathogens Branch, G14, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333. Fax: (404) 639-1118. E-mail: [email protected].

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