Viruses of the family Bunyaviridae: Are all available isolates reassortants?

Highlights

• Dual infections provide bunyaviruses the opportunity for segment reassortment

• It is possible that most or all currently recognized bunyaviruses are reassortants.

• It is unknown whether contemporary bunyaviruses contain segments of extinct viruses.

• Currently described bunyavirus phylogeny may be incorrect or incomplete.

Abstract

Viruses of the family Bunyaviridae (the bunyaviruses) possess three distinct linear, single-stranded, negative sense or ambisense RNA segments (large, medium, and small). Dual infections of arthropod and perhaps vertebrate and plant hosts provide substantial opportunity for segment reassortment and an increasingly recognized number of the nearly 300 viruses in this family have been shown to be reassortants. Reassortment of RNA segments (genetic shift) complements genetic drift (accumulation of point mutations) as a powerful mechanism underlying bunyavirus evolution.

Here we consider the possibility, if not likelihood, that most if not all bunyaviruses currently recognized may represent reassortants, some of which may be reassortants of existing viruses, and some of which may be reassortants of extinct viruses. If this hypothesis is correct, then the roots of the family and genus trees of bunyaviruses as currently described (or ignored) are incomplete or incorrect.