Previously, serological evidence of hantavirus infection was reported in the common serotine (Eptesicus serotinus) and greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) captured in Korea [33] , but genetic analysis of hantaviral isolates from these insectivorous bat species proved to be indistinguishable from prototype Hantaan virus [34] , suggesting laboratory contamination. In the present study, the strikingly divergent lineage of MOUV precluded any possibility of contamination and lends support to our earlier conjecture that the ancient origins of hantaviruses may have involved insect-borne viruses [7, 10] , with subsequent adaptation to and host switching between early soricomorph and chiropteran ancestral hosts in the mammalian superorder Laurasiatheria. However, since the biological and evolutionary implications of bats as reservoirs of hantaviruses are considerable, studies are underway to establish that the banana pipistrelle is the natural host of MOUV. Moreover, high-throughput sequencing technology is being applied to obtain the full genome of MOUV and to ascertain the geographic range and genetic diversity of hantaviruses harbored by bats. Protective Immunity to Listeria Monocytogenes Infection Mediated by Recombinant Listeria innocua Harboring the VGC Locus In this study we propose a novel bacterial vaccine strategy where non-pathogenic bacteria are complemented with traits desirable for the induction of protective immunity. To illustrate the proof of principle of this novel vaccination strategy, we use the model organism of intracellular immunity Listeria. We introduced a, low copy number BAC-plasmid harbouring the virulence gene cluster (vgc) of L. monocytogenes (Lm) into the non-pathogenic L. innocua (L.inn) strain and examined for its ability to induce protective cellular immunity. The resulting strain (L.inn::vgc) was attenuated for virulence in vivo and showed a strongly reduced host detrimental inflammatory response compared to Lm. Like Lm, L.inn::vgc induced the production of Type I Interferon's and protection was mediated by Listeria-specific CD8(+) T cells. Rational vaccine design whereby avirulent strains are equipped with the capabilities to induce protection but lack detrimental inflammatory effects offer great promise towards future studies using non-pathogenic bacteria as vectors for vaccination. Current state of the art vaccine technology focuses on three distinct strategies 1) the creation of live attenuated pathogens based on the deletion of virulence factors [1] 2) the use of subunit vaccines [2] which contain one or more semi-pure antigens that are critical in inducing an immune response and 3) the use of metabolically active but non-viable bacteria [3] .