Discovery of a polyomavirus in European badgers (Meles meles) and the evolution of host range in the family Polyomaviridae
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Polyomaviruses infect a diverse range of mammalian and avian hosts, and are associated with a variety of symptoms. However, it is unknown whether the viruses are found in all mammalian families and the evolutionary history of the polyomaviruses is still unclear. Here, we report the discovery of a novel polyomavirus in the European badger (Meles meles), which to our knowledge represents the first polyomavirus to be characterized in the family Mustelidae, and within a European carnivoran. Although the virus was discovered serendipitously in the supernatant of a cell culture inoculated with badger material, we subsequently confirmed its presence in wild badgers. The European badger polyomavirus was tentatively named Meles meles polyomavirus 1 (MmelPyV1). The genome is 5187 bp long and encodes proteins typical of polyomaviruses. Phylogenetic analyses including all known polyomavirus genomes consistently group MmelPyV1 with California sea lion polyomavirus 1 across all regions of the genome. Further evolutionary analyses revealed phylogenetic discordance amongst polyomavirus genome regions, possibly arising from evolutionary rate heterogeneity, and a complex association between polyomavirus phylogeny and host taxonomic groups.
Date Issued
2015-06-01
Date Acceptance
2015-01-23
Citation
Journal of General Virology, 2015, 96 (6), pp.1411-1422
ISSN
0022-1317
Publisher
Microbiology Society
Start Page
1411
End Page
1422
Journal / Book Title
Journal of General Virology
Volume
96
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2015 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000358189000023&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Virology
MOLECULAR-BIOLOGY
GENOME ANALYSIS
T-ANTIGENS
VIRUSES
HERPESVIRUS-1
EMERGENCE
BATS
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2015-06-01