Biogeography and evolutionary history of two RNA viruses (arena and hantaviruses) in Africa

新出现和再次出现的疾病通常是由RNA病毒引起的。两种啮齿动物传播的阴性标准RNA病毒属，阿雷纳病毒(阿雷纳病毒科)和汉坦病毒(布尼亚病毒科)，因为它们可能导致出血热或肺衰竭而被广泛研究。除了导致西非拉萨出血热的拉萨病毒外，人们对这些病毒在非洲的发生知之甚少。据推测，这两组病毒与它们的宿主都有很长的共同进化历史。然而，最近的观察表明优先宿主切换对这一概念提出了挑战，这意味着病毒的出现。考虑到估计超过四分之一的当代小鼠物种生活在非洲，非洲的许多啮齿动物物种和亚种的特征仍然很差，显然，非洲是获得关于啮齿动物传播病毒及其宿主的生物地理和生物多样性的新知识的首选大陆。拟议的项目集中于以下问题：1.东非阿拉伯病毒和汉坦病毒的多样性、进化历史、宿主范围和地理分布？2.病毒和它们的宿主之间的进化关系是什么？病毒-宿主共同进化和宿主切换的作用是什么？3.我们能在这两组病毒的进化历史中检测到宿主适应的特征吗？

Emerging and re-emerging diseases are often caused by RNA viruses. Two rodent-borne genera of negative stand RNA viruses, Arenavirus (family Arenaviridae) and Hantavirus (family Bunyaviridae) are intensively studied due to their potential to cause hemorrhagic fever or pulmonary failure. With the exception of the arenavirus Lassa, responsible for Lassa hemorrhagic fever in West Africa, little is known on the occurrence of these viruses in Africa. It is assumed that both groups of viruses have long co-evolutionary histories with their hosts. However, this concept is challenged by recent observa-tions suggesting preferential host switching, which has implications for viral emergence. Considering that more than 1/4th of all contemporary murine species are estimated to live in Africa and that many rodent species and subspecies in Africa are still poorly characterised, it is obvious that Africa is the continent of choice to gain new knowledge on the biogeography and biodiversity of rodent-borne viruses and their hosts. The proposed project is focused on the following questions: 1. What are the diversity, evolutionary history, host range, and geographical distribution of arenaviruses and hanta-viruses in Eastern Africa? 2. What are the evolutionary relationships between the viruses and their hosts? What is the role of virus–host co-evolution and host switching? 3. Can we detect a signature of host adaptation in the evolutionary history of both groups of viruses?