The Whitewater Arroyo virus: natural evidence for genetic recombination among Tacaribe serocomplex viruses (family Arenaviridae).

The Tacaribe serocomplex (family Arenaviridae) comprises three phylogenetic lineages, designated A, B, and C. The sequence of a 3278-nt fragment of the small genomic segment of the Whitewater Arroyo (WWA) virus was determined to extend our knowledge on the phylogenetic relationship of this newly discovered North American Tacaribe complex virus to other arenaviruses. Independent analyses of full-length nucleoprotein (N) and glycoprotein precursor (GPC) amino acid sequences indicated that the WWA virus N and GPC genes are descended from a lineage A virus and lineage B virus, respectively. The different phylogenetic histories of the N and GPC genes indicate that the WWA virus genome is a product of recombination between two Tacaribe complex viruses. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.