Genomic characterization and phylogenetic placement of Matryoshka RNA virus 1 associated with Plasmodium vivax malaria in Africa
Source: PubMed Central Open Access, NCBI / U.S. National Library of Medicine
Abstract a major cause of human malaria. It harbours Matryoshka RNA virus 1 (MaRNAV-1), a bi-segmented positive-sense RNA virus. MaRNAV-1 was first described inand is now recognized as part of a wider group of Matryoshka viruses. These viruses also infect other haemosporidian parasites such asand. The presence of MaRNAV-1 in African-origin human, however, has not been clearly established. This study investigated whether MaRNAV-1 is present in public African-origintranscriptomic datasets. Any viral sequences recovered were characterized using comparative genomic and phylogenetic analyses. A secondaryanalysis targeted African-originRNA-seq runs from public repositories. Although the search covered Africa, only Ethiopian datasets could be confidently identified, retrieved and compiled at the time. After quality control and screening for MaRNAV-1 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) signals, three high-confidence runs were selected for further analysis. Reference-guided reconstruction, ORF prediction,-based validation and RdRp phylogenetic analysis were performed. MaRNAV-1 was identified in three Ethiopianmalaria transcriptomes. This was supported by strong segment-level mapping, near-complete coverage, high mean depth and minimal low-depth masking. The recovered genomes showed the expected bisegmented organization of MaRNAV-1. Segment I was highly conserved and encoded the canonical RdRp in all three consensus sequences. Segment II showed the conserved organization of two overlap
Abstract
Abstract a major cause of human malaria. It harbours Matryoshka RNA virus 1 (MaRNAV-1), a bi-segmented positive-sense RNA virus. MaRNAV-1 was first described inand is now recognized as part of a wider group of Matryoshka viruses. These viruses also infect other haemosporidian parasites such asand. The presence of MaRNAV-1 in African-origin human, however, has not been clearly established. This study investigated whether MaRNAV-1 is present in public African-origintranscriptomic datasets. Any viral sequences recovered were characterized using comparative genomic and phylogenetic analyses. A secondaryanalysis targeted African-originRNA-seq runs from public repositories. Although the search covered Africa, only Ethiopian datasets could be confidently identified, retrieved and compiled at the time. After quality control and screening for MaRNAV-1 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) signals, three high-confidence runs were selected for further analysis. Reference-guided reconstruction, ORF prediction,-based validation and RdRp phylogenetic analysis were performed. MaRNAV-1 was identified in three Ethiopianmalaria transcriptomes. This was supported by strong segment-level mapping, near-complete coverage, high mean depth and minimal low-depth masking. The recovered genomes showed the expected bisegmented organization of MaRNAV-1. Segment I was highly conserved and encoded the canonical RdRp in all three consensus sequences. Segment II showed the conserved organization of two overlapping hypothetical ORFs in all three consensus sequences.analyses confirmed close similarity to MaRNAV-1 reference sequences. Phylogenetic inference grouped the Ethiopian sequences within the broader-associated MaRNAV-1 lineage, alongside other recognized MaRNAV lineages distinct from more divergent narna-like viruses. These findings provide genomic evidence for MaRNAV-1 in publicly available African-origintranscriptomic datasets and add to the emerging evidence for the virus in the African malaria context.