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Hepatitis A virus (HAV), a member of the genus Hepatovirus (Picornaviridae HepV), remains a significant viral pathogen, frequently causing enterically transmitted hepatitis worldwide. In this study, we conducted an epidemiological survey of HepVs carried by small terrestrial mammals in the wild in Yunnan Province, China. Utilizing HepV-specific broad-spectrum RT-PCR, next-generation sequencing (NGS), and QNome nanopore sequencing (QNS) techniques, we identified and characterized two novel HepVs provisionally named EpMa-HAV and EpLe-HAV, discovered in the long-tailed mountain shrew (Episoriculus macrurus) and long-tailed brown-toothed shrew (Episoriculus leucops), respectively. Our sequence and phylogenetic analyses of EpMa-HAV and EpLe-HAV indicated that they belong to the species Hepatovirus I (HepV-I) clade II, also known as the Chinese shrew HepV clade. Notably, the codon usage bias pattern of novel shrew HepVs is consistent with that of previously identified Chinese shrew HepV. Furthermore, our structural analysis demonstrated that shrew HepVs differ from other mammalian HepVs in RNA secondary structure and exhibit variances in key protein sites. Overall, the discovery of two novel HepVs in shrews expands the host range of HepV and underscores the existence of genetically diverse animal homologs of human HAV within the genus HepV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phylogenetic structure of the genus Niviventer has been studied based on several individual mitochondrial and nuclear genes, but the results seem to be inconsistent. In order to clarify the phylogeny of Niviventer, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of white‐bellied rat (Niviventer andersoni of the family Muridae) by next‐generation sequencing. The 16,291 bp mitochondrial genome consists of 22 transfer RNA genes, 13 protein‐coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes, and one noncoding control region (D‐Loop). Phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide sequences of all 13 PCGs, PCGs minus ND6, and the entire mitogenome sequence except for the D‐loop revealed well‐resolved topologies supporting that N. andersoni was clustered with N. excelsior forming a sister division with N. confucianus, which statistically rejected the hypothesis based on the tree of cytochrome b (cytb) gene that N. confucianus is sister to N. fulvescens. Our research provides the first annotated complete mitochondrial genome of N. andersoni, extending the understanding about taxonomy and mitogenomic evolution of the genus Niviventer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]