Two closely related novel picornaviruses in cattle and sheep in Hungary from 2008 to 2009, proposed as members of a new genus in the family Picornaviridae

Two novel picornaviruses were serendipitously identified in apparently healthy young domestic animals-cattle (Bos taurus) and, subsequently, sheep (Ovis aries)-in Hungary during 2008 and 2009. Complete genome sequencing and comparative analysis showed that the two viruses are related to each other and have identical genome organizations, VPg + 5' UTRIRES-II[L/1A-1B-1C-1D-2A(NPG)down arrow(P)/2B-2C/3A-3B(VPg)-3C(pro)-3D(pol)] 3' UTR-poly(A). We suggest that they form two novel viral genotypes/serotypes, bovine hungarovirus 1 (BHuV-1; GenBank accession number JQ941880) and ovine hungarovirus 1 (OHuV-1; GenBank accession number HM153767), which may belong to a potential novel picornavirus genus in the family Picornaviridae. The genome lengths of BHuV-1 and OHuV-1 are 7,583 and 7,588 nucleotides, each comprising a single open reading frame encoding 2,243 and 2,252 amino acids, respectively. In the 5' untranslated regions (5' UTRs), both hungaroviruses are predicted to have a type II internal ribosome entry site (IRES). The nucleotide sequence and the secondary RNA structure of the hungarovirus IRES core domains H-I-J-K-L are highly similar to that of human parechovirus (HPeV) (genus Parechovirus), especially HPeV-3. However, in the polyprotein coding region, the amino acid sequences are more closely related to those of porcine teschoviruses (genus Teschovirus). Hungaroviruses were detected in 15% (4/26) and 25% (4/16) of the fecal samples from cattle and sheep, respectively. This report describes the discovery of two novel picornaviruses in farm animals, cattle and sheep. The mosaic genetic pattern raises the possibility that hungaroviruses, human parechoviruses, and porcine teschoviruses may be linked to each other by modular recombination of functional noncoding RNA elements.