TY - JOUR

T1 - First Report of the Yezo Virus Isolates Detection in Russia

AU - Kartashov, Mikhail

AU - Svirin, Kirill

AU - Zheleznova, Alina

AU - Yanshin, Alexey

AU - Radchenko, Nikita

AU - Kurushina, Valentina

AU - Tregubchak, Tatyana

AU - Maksimenko, Lada

AU - Sivay, Mariya

AU - Ternovoi, Vladimir

AU - Agafonov, Alexander

AU - Gladysheva, Anastasia

N1 - The work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (The Federal Scientific-technical program for genetic technologies development for 2019–2030, Agreement No. 075-15-2025-526).

PY - 2025/8/15

Y1 - 2025/8/15

N2 - The recent discovery of the Yezo virus (YEZV) in Japan and China has raised particular concern due to its potential to cause human diseases ranging from mild febrile illnesses to severe neurological disorders. We report, for the first time, the detection of five YEZV isolates in I. persulcatus ticks from three regions of Russia. The analysis was performed using 5318 ticks of two Ixodes genus collected in 2024 from 23 regions of Russia. The minimum infection rate of YEZV in Russia among I. persulcatus ticks was 0.12% (95% CI: 0.05–0.28). The westernmost and northernmost YEZV detection points have been recorded. YEZV isolates circulating in Russia are genetically diverse. Protein domains of Russian YEZV isolates’ genomes were characterized using HMMER, AlphaFold 3, and InterProScan. The YEZV nucleoprotein (N) of Russian isolates has a racket-shaped structure with “head” and “stalk” domains similar to those of Orthonairovirus haemorrhagiae. The Lys261–Arg261 substitution in the YEZV N Chita 2024-1 isolate occurs in the α11 structure in the region of interaction with viral RNA. Our results show that the distribution area of YEZV is much wider than previously known, provide new data on complete YEZV genomes, extend our structural insight into YEZV N, and suggest a potential target for antiviral drug development to treat YEZV infection.

AB - The recent discovery of the Yezo virus (YEZV) in Japan and China has raised particular concern due to its potential to cause human diseases ranging from mild febrile illnesses to severe neurological disorders. We report, for the first time, the detection of five YEZV isolates in I. persulcatus ticks from three regions of Russia. The analysis was performed using 5318 ticks of two Ixodes genus collected in 2024 from 23 regions of Russia. The minimum infection rate of YEZV in Russia among I. persulcatus ticks was 0.12% (95% CI: 0.05–0.28). The westernmost and northernmost YEZV detection points have been recorded. YEZV isolates circulating in Russia are genetically diverse. Protein domains of Russian YEZV isolates’ genomes were characterized using HMMER, AlphaFold 3, and InterProScan. The YEZV nucleoprotein (N) of Russian isolates has a racket-shaped structure with “head” and “stalk” domains similar to those of Orthonairovirus haemorrhagiae. The Lys261–Arg261 substitution in the YEZV N Chita 2024-1 isolate occurs in the α11 structure in the region of interaction with viral RNA. Our results show that the distribution area of YEZV is much wider than previously known, provide new data on complete YEZV genomes, extend our structural insight into YEZV N, and suggest a potential target for antiviral drug development to treat YEZV infection.

KW - AlphaFold

KW - Ixodes persulcatus

KW - Orthonairovirus

KW - Yezo virus

KW - nucleoprotein

KW - protein structure

KW - tick-borne diseases

KW - ticks

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105014269646

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/0c221f32-a9a0-37a9-8834-81a9c40acbe6/

U2 - 10.3390/v17081125

DO - 10.3390/v17081125

M3 - Article

C2 - 40872839

VL - 17

JO - Viruses

JF - Viruses

SN - 1999-4915

IS - 8

M1 - 1125

ER -