Playa de Oro virus
| Playa de Oro virus | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group V ((-)ssRNA) |
| Order: | Unassigned |
| Family: | Bunyaviridae |
| Genus: | Hantavirus |
| Species: | Playa de Oro virus |
Playa de Oro virus (OROV) is a probable species of hantavirus found in the rodents Oryzomys couesi and Sigmodon mascotensis in the Mexican state of Colima. The former is thought to be the main host. The sequences of parts of the virus's RNA-based genome have been determined; they differ by 7–10% in amino acid composition and 22–24% in nucleotide composition from closely related viruses.
Playa de Oro virus was identified as a new species in 2008 and is most closely related to Bayou virus, Catacamas virus, Muleshoe virus, and Black Creek Canal virus, found in other species of Oryzomys and Sigmodon. Catacamas virus is found in a different population of Oryzomys couesi, and the presence of different viruses in these two species has been used as an argument for classifying the two populations of the host as separate species.
Playa de Oro virus was first identified in rodents collected in 2004 as part of a survey of wild mammals at Playa de Oro in Manzanillo, Colima, western Mexico. The discovery was published in 2008 by Yong-Kyu Chu and colleagues. Among 600 small mammals, antibodies against the hantavirus Sin Nombre virus were found in 23 individuals (out of 358 studied) of Oryzomys couesi, a rice rat that was the most common species found, six (out of 87) of the cotton rat Sigmodon mascotensis, and one (out of 77) of the pygmy mouse Baiomys musculus. In addition, twelve O. couesi and one S. mascotensis yielded hantavirus RNA. Viruses were found in males more often than in females. Because the amino acid sequences in sequenced parts of the virus's genome differed by as much as 7 to 10% from closely related hantaviruses, Chu and colleagues identified the virus found at Playa de Oro as a new species, called Playa de Oro virus or OROV. Although the authors could not prove that the virus fulfilled all the criteria for identifying a new virus species, they argued that it was likely that it did fulfill those criteria. It is currently treated as a probable species in the Hantavirus genus.
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