Full genome sequence of a Sathuvachari virus strain isolated in the southwestern-most archipelago of Japan.

Two virus strains, tentatively designated as ON-6/P/05 and ON-7/E/05, were isolated from blood samples of healthy cattle in the Yaeyama Islands, located in the southwestern-most region of Japan, in 2005. Ultrastructural observations of infected baby hamster (BHK-21) cells revealed that the viruses had features consistent with those of orbivirus. As with other orbiviruses, the viral genome consists of 10 double-stranded RNA segments. The full genome sequence of ON-6/P/05 was determined and shared high nucleotide and amino acid identities (90.07-98.22% nucleotide identity; 96.16-99.72% amino acid identity) with that of Sathuvachari virus (SVIV), a member of the species Sathuvachari virus of the genus Orbivirus, originally isolated from starlings collected in southern India in 1963. The sequence of segment two of ON-7/E/05 was identical to that of ON-6/P/05. The isolation of SVIV from cattle also indicated that the virus has a wider host range than previously thought. The potential pathogenicity of SVIV in domestic animals should be considered in future disease surveillance within its distribution range.