Sakiho Imai

Identification of novel hepaciviruses in rock pigeon (Columba livia )

This study identifies three new hepaciviruses in birds, revealing phylogenetic incongruence and suggesting past cross-species transmission among avian hepaciviruses.

Detection of a novel parahenipavirus from northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda )

This study identifies a novel parahenipavirus, BbV, from northern short-tailed shrews using RNA-seq data and demonstrates its kidney tropism.

Detection and genetic characterization of pigeon gammacoronavirus

This study identifies and characterizes two nearly complete genomes of pigeon gammacoronaviruses, supporting their classification as a new species within the Igacovirus subgenus.

Ambisense transcription uncovers hidden coding capacity in compact circular RNA satellite viruses

The paper demonstrates that ambisense transcription allows compact circular RNA viruses to expand coding capacity by expressing additional genes, using kolmioviruses as a case study.