Family: Picornaviridae
Genus: Mosavirus
Distinguishing features
The genus is distinguished on the basis of genetic characters.
Virion
Morphology
No details are available on the morphology of virions.
Nucleic acid
Genome (Phan et al., 2011, Reuter et al., 2014, Luo et al., 2018): c. 8,385 nt (5′-UTR: >646 nt; ORF: 7,653 nt; 3′-UTR: 86 nt). The location of the cre has not been identified.
Genome organization and replication
Genome layout
VPg+5′-UTRIRES-II-[L/1A-1B-1C-1D-2Anpgp/2B-2C/3A-3B1-3B2-3C-3D]-3′-UTR-poly(A)
The deduced polyprotein is of 2,551 aa. There is an L protein which may be a protease. 2A is a short polypeptide with an NPG↓P motif. The genome is predicted to encode a second 3B (VPg) protein. The 3Cpro has a deviant GxCGx10-15AxH motif.
Biology
No virus has been isolated. Viral RNA of mosavirus A1 and mosavirus A2 was detected in faeces of the canyon mouse (Peromyscus crinitus) and the European roller (Coriacas garrulus). RNA of mosavirus B1 was identified in the intestinal contents of captured Himalayan marmots (Marmota himalayana) from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Two genetic types of Mosavirus A are distinguished by means of phylogenetic analysis.
Derivation of names
Mosavirus: from mouse stool-associated
Species demarcation criteria
Members of a species of the genus Mosavirus:
- are less than 30% divergent in polyprotein aa sequence
- are less than 35% divergent in P1 aa sequence
- are less than 30% divergent in 2C+3CD aa sequence
- share a common genome organization