TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schmidt, Sabrina
A1  - Reil, Daniela
A1  - Jeske, Kathrin
A1  - Drewes, Stephan
A1  - Rosenfeld, Ulrike
A1  - Fischer, Stefan
A1  - Spierling, Nastasja G.
A1  - Labutin, Anton
A1  - Heckel, Gerald
A1  - Jacob, Jens
A1  - Ulrich, Rainer G.
A1  - Imholt, Christian
T1  - Spatial and temporal dynamics and molecular evolution of Tula orthohantavirus in German vole populations
JF  - Viruses / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
N2  - Tula orthohantavirus (TULV) is a rodent-borne hantavirus with broad geographical distribution in Europe. Its major reservoir is the common vole (Microtus arvalis), but TULV has also been detected in closely related vole species. Given the large distributional range and high amplitude population dynamics of common voles, this host-pathogen complex presents an ideal system to study the complex mechanisms of pathogen transmission in a wild rodent reservoir. We investigated the dynamics of TULV prevalence and the subsequent potential effects on the molecular evolution of TULV in common voles of the Central evolutionary lineage. Rodents were trapped for three years in four regions of Germany and samples were analyzed for the presence of TULV-reactive antibodies and TULV RNA with subsequent sequence determination. The results show that individual (sex) and population-level factors (abundance) of hosts were significant predictors of local TULV dynamics. At the large geographic scale, different phylogenetic TULV clades and an overall isolation-by-distance pattern in virus sequences were detected, while at the small scale (<4 km) this depended on the study area. In combination with an overall delayed density dependence, our results highlight that frequent, localized bottleneck events for the common vole and TULV do occur and can be offset by local recolonization dynamics.
KW  - rodents
KW  - hantavirus
KW  - monitoring
KW  - population dynamics
KW  - common vole
KW  - field vole
KW  - water vole
KW  - phylogeny
KW  - molecular evolution
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/v13061132
SN  - 1999-4915
VL  - 13
IS  - 6
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Folkertsma, Remco
A1  - Westbury, Michael V.
A1  - Eccard, Jana
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
T1  - The complete mitochondrial genome of the common vole, Microtus arvalis (Rodentia: Arvicolinae)
JF  - Mitochondrial DNA Part B
N2  - The common vole, Microtus arvalis belongs to the genus Microtus in the subfamily Arvicolinae. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of M. arvalis was recovered using shotgun sequencing and an iterative mapping approach using three related species. Phylogenetic analyses using the sequence of 21 arvicoline species place the common vole as a sister species to the East European vole (Microtus levis), but as opposed to previous results we find no support for the recognition of the genus Neodon within the subfamily Arvicolinae, as this is, as well as the genus Lasiopodomys, found within the Microtus genus.
KW  - Microtus arvalis
KW  - Arvicolinae
KW  - mitochondrial genome
KW  - common vole
KW  - phylogeny
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2018.1457994
SN  - 2380-2359
VL  - 3
IS  - 1
SP  - 446
EP  - 447
ER  -