{
  "abstract": "Pneumonia virus of mice (PVM), the mouse homolog to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), is increasingly used as a surrogate model to study pneumovirus pathogenesis in a more natural pathogen-host relationship. Two major strains of PVM, strain 15 and J3666, are currently used in laboratories, with preferences for either one or the other based on the well-documented isolation history of strain 15, or the suggested higher virulence of strain J3666. Using conventional and long-read sequencing, we found that the PVM strain J3666 represents two distinct virus populations, which are defined by the sequence and structure of the G and SH genes encoding the putative attachment and small hydrophobic proteins, in addition to further nucleotide polymorphisms. Specifically, a nucleotide polymorphism at position 65 in the G gene results in either an upstream open reading frame (uORF) preceding the main ORF in frame, or an extension of the major G ORF by 18 codons. The impact of the different forms of the J3666-G genes on PVM was examined by generating recombinant PVMs differing exclusively in the distinctive 5' portion of the respective G gene. This revealed that the population with an extended main G ORF was more virulent than the population with a G gene containing an uORF or the parental virus. The presence of a uORF was associated with decreased expression levels of G, whereas the virus with the extended G ORF appeared to express slightly increased levels of G, which suggests that expression levels of G may modulate virulence. IMPORTANCE: The pneumonia virus of mice strain J3666 is considered a more virulent and more suitable model for severe lower respiratory tract infections. The organization of the gene for the attachment protein G is reported to contain a small upstream open reading frame (uORF) preceding the main G ORF in frame. The translated G protein is predicted to comprise 396 amino acids. We report that this virus strain may be a mixture of two different populations, each with differing virulence. The more virulent population encodes a G protein of potentially 414 amino acids instead of a small uORF. The usage of the first start codon in this G gene organization remains to be determined. Importantly, this organization of the G gene is in line with that of several newly identified pneumoviruses, i.e., canine and swine pneumoviruses. These viruses may comprise a distinct group within the Pneumoviridae family.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Akinbami Adenugba"
    },
    {
      "name": "Patrick Bohn"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jiangyan Yu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Markus Fehrholz"
    },
    {
      "name": "Anke Bergmann"
    },
    {
      "name": "Redmond Smyth"
    },
    {
      "name": "Christine Krempl"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/303nfmypr4wck.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1128/jvi.00103-26",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "303nfmypr4wck",
  "issns": [
    "0022-538X",
    "1098-5514"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05848391v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "hal",
      "0.sdv"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "1.sdv.mhep"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "1.sdv.mp"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "2.sdv.mhep.mi"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "2.sdv.mhep.psr"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "2.sdv.mp.vir"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2713|Respiratory viral infections research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7165781122",
  "pdf_url": "https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/jvi.00103-26?download=true",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": "42370703",
  "published": "2026-06-24",
  "publisher": "American Society for Microbiology",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/303nfmypr4wck.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T12:20:44Z",
      "native_id": "hal-05848391",
      "source": "hal",
      "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05848391v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "hal:1.sdv.mp",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
    },
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "hal:2.sdv.mhep.mi",
      "subfield": "infectious-disease"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Sequence heterogeneity in pneumonia virus of mice reveals G gene-dependent modulation of virulence",
  "title_text": "Sequence heterogeneity in pneumonia virus of mice reveals G gene-dependent modulation of virulence",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-04T12:20:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/303nfmypr4wck",
  "venue": "Journal of Virology",
  "versions": []
}