Evolutionary origin of pathogenic arthropod-borne viruses - a case study in the family Bunyaviridae

Arthropod-borne viruses have a dual-host tropism and their transmission requires the infection of two disparate hosts, arthropods and vertebrates. Arboviruses occur in several RNA families that also contain viruses with a monotropism for either arthropods or vertebrates. The evolutionary origin of the dual-host tropism of arboviruses was recently identified for the family Bunyaviridae. Bunyaviruses were suggested to have evolved from viruses that are restricted to arthropods as hosts (arthropod-specific viruses). Additional findings of an immense genetic diversity of bunyaviruses in non-blood feeding arthropods support the hypothesis of an arthropod origin of vertebrate-pathogenic bunyaviruses.