De novo recovery of Ghana virus, an African bat Henipavirus, reveals differential tropism and attenuated pathogenicity compared to Nipah virus

Henipaviruses (HNVs) like Nipah (NiV) and Hendra (HeV) viruses represent severe zoonotic threats. Ghana virus (GhV), identified in 2012, is the only African bat henipavirus with a near-complete genome assembly. However, without isolates in culture, GhV biology, pathogenicity, and zoonotic potential remain poorly understood. Using reverse genetics, we recovered a full-length infectious clone of GhV at BSL-4 following rational reconstruction of its incomplete 3' leader and modification of a non-canonical transcriptional initiation site. GhV demonstrated restricted receptor tropism (ephrin-B2 but not ephrin-B3) and distinct innate immune antagonism. Replication was attenuated in primary human cells, but was enhanced in bat cells. In Syrian golden hamsters, GhV infection caused no disease or mortality. Furthermore, a chimeric NiV encoding the GhV receptor-binding protein was completely attenuated in vivo, implicating ephrin-B3 receptor usage as a critical determinant of HNV pathogenesis. These findings elucidate GhV zoonotic potential and inform strategies for virus surveillance and control. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=200 SRC="FIGDIR/small/679836v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (64K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1e5addcorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f96850org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@12f842eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@8f013c_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG