New Phylogenetic Groups of Torque Teno Virus Identified in Eastern Taiwan Indigenes

PLoS One. 2016 Feb 22;11(2):e0149901. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149901. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Torque teno virus (TTV) is a single-stranded DNA virus highly prevalent in the world. It has been detected in eastern Taiwan indigenes with a low prevalence of 11% by using N22 region of which known to underestimate TTV prevalence excessively. In order to clarify their realistic epidemiology, we re-analyzed TTV prevalence with UTR region. One hundred and forty serum samples from eastern Taiwanese indigenous population were collected and TTV DNA was detected in 133 (95%) samples. Direct sequencing revealed an extensive mix-infection of different TTV strains within the infected individual. Entire TTV open reading frame 1 was amplified and cloned from a TTV positive individual to distinguish mix-infected strains. Phylogenetic analysis showed eleven isolates were clustered into a monophyletic group that is distinct from all known groups. In addition, another our isolate was clustered with recently described Hebei-1 strain and formed an independent clade. Based on the distribution pattern of pairwise distances, both new clusters were placed at phylogenetic group level, designed as the 6th and 7th phylogenetic group. In present study, we showed a very high prevalence of TTV infection in eastern Taiwan indigenes and indentified new phylogenetic groups from the infected individual. Both intra- and inter-phylogenetic group mix-infections can be found from one healthy person. Our study has further broadened the field of human TTVs and proposed a robust criterion for classification of the major TTV phylogenetic groups.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA, Single-Stranded / genetics
  • DNA, Viral / genetics
  • Humans
  • Open Reading Frames / genetics
  • Phylogeny
  • Taiwan
  • Torque teno virus / classification
  • Torque teno virus / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • DNA, Viral

Grants and funding

This study was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (grant NSC 96-2314-B-195-010, NSC 102-2314-B-195-013-MY2, https://www.most.gov.tw/en/public) and Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taiwan (grant MMH-104-48, http://eng.mmh.org.tw/dnn/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.