Diagnosis and Prevention of Infection by Nairoviruses

The aims of the contract were to elucidate the coding and replication strategies of nairoviruses, and determine whether reagents derived from Dugbe (DUG) virus can be used to detect Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) viral infections. The small (S) segment of DUG virus was shown to comprise 1712 nucleotides and encode a single protein, the 49.9K nucleoprotein (N), in viral complementary (vc) RNA. No sequence similarity was detected with representatives of the Hanta-, Bunya-, or Phlebovirus genera of the Bunyaviridae family. Approximately 75% (i.e. 4953 nucleotides) of the sequence of the M segment of DUG virus was derived and revealed a single open reading frame (ORF) in the vc RNA. The gene encoding the G1 structural glycoprotein appears to be located at the carboxy-terminal end of the M segment ORF. Cloned cDNA derived from the S and M genomic RNA segments of DUG virus was used to prepare 32p-labelled RNA probes.