Nucleotide sequence and phylogenetic analysis of M and L segment of soochong virus

Hantaan virus (HTNV) and Seoul virus (SEOV) have mainly been known as the cause of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Korea since HTNV has been isolated from Korean field mouse, Apodemus agrarius in 1976 and SEOV has been isolated from Rattus norvegicus in 1980. Soochong virus-1, -2, -3, -4 (SOOVs) were isolated from lung tissues of four Apodemus peninsulae captured on August 1997 at Mt. Gyebang in Hongcheon-gun, Mt. Gachil, Inje-gun, Gangwon Province, and in September 1998 at Mt. Deogyu, Muju-gun, Jeollabuk Province. Apodemus peninsulae is the second-most dominant field rodent species found throughout Korea. To determine phylogenetic analysis of SOOVs, we entirely identified nucleotide sequences of M and L segments. The length of M segment was 3,615 bp and L segment was 6,533 bp. SOOVs were diverged from HTNV by 22.7-23.3% and SEOV by 36.3-37.2%, in M segment. In addition, L segment was diverged from HTNV by 21.8-22.0% and SEOV by 30.3-30.5%. SOOVs sequence compared with Amur virus (AMRV) in M segment showed that SOOVs were different with AMRV about 14.6-16.2% in nucleotide sequences. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic analysis based on entire sequences of the M and L segment indicated that the SOOVs sequences present a separate lineage with HTNV, SEOV and AMRV. SOOVs constituted an individual cluster on the phylogenetic tree and they composed a phylogenic lineage separately. According to these data, SOOVs could be classified as a new hantavirus.