Molecular characterization of Dobrava and Kurkino genotypes of Dobrava-Belgrade hantavirus detected in Hungary and Northern Croatia.

Among the Hantavirus genus, Saaremaa virus (SAAV) has been the subject of taxonomical debates. While the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses declares SAAV as a distinct species, several European hantavirus experts proposed that SAAV is in fact a genotype of Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV). In the present study we performed S-segment-based phylogenetic analysis of eight DOBV strains identified in rodents in Hungary and Northern Croatia. These new sequences considerably increase the number of complete nucleoprotein gene sequences deposited in the NCBI database. Our phylogenetic analysis clearly support the taxonomical nomenclature recently proposed for DOBV, i.e., genotypes such as Dobrava, Saaremaa, Kurkino, and Sochi should indeed be classified within the DOBV hantavirus species. Moreover, we found that only the Dobrava and Kurkino genotypes of DOBV species are circulating in Hungary while currently there is no evidence for the presence of Saaremaa genotype.