Hypsugopoxvirus: A Novel Poxvirus Isolated from Hypsugo savii in Italy

Lelli, Davide; Lavazza, Antonio; Prosperi, Alice; Sozzi, Enrica; Faccin, Francesca; Baioni, Laura; Trogu, Tiziana; Cavallari, Gian Luca; Mauri, Matteo; Gibellini, Anna Maria; Chiapponi, Chiara; Moreno, Ana

The results of our study indicate that HYPV presents the typical morphology of the Orthopoxvirus genus and that it could be isolated in cell culture. Indeed, its final identification was obtained by genomic characterization. The nearly complete genomic sequencing clearly demonstrated that HYPV is a new virus that is distantly related to its closest known relative EPTV (WA, USA, 2011) with a nucleotide identity of 85% (almost whole genome). Indeed, the percentage value of the nt identity of HYPV with EPTV ranged from 42.5% for the HYPV-2 gene (serpin 2) to 100% for the HYPV-90 gene (VLTF-3). Regarding ORFs annotation the HYPV was shown to be defective in particular in the ITR genes i.e., 12 out of 13 described in EPTV, but this should be not a real structural defect but more likely due to the omission of the ITRs from the analysis. On the contrary, two ORFs, whose function is still unknown, appear to be unique to HYPV.