Circoviruses and cycloviruses identified in Weddell seal fecal samples from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Quinn M Patterson; Simona Kraberger; Darren P Martin; Michelle R Shero; Roxanne S Beltran; Amy L Kirkham; Maketalena Aleamotu'a; David G Ainley; Stacy Kim; Jennifer M Burns; Arvind Varsani

doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2021.105070

Circoviruses and cycloviruses identified in Weddell seal fecal samples from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Infect Genet Evol. 2021 Nov:95:105070. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.105070. Epub 2021 Sep 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, Center for Evolution and Medicine, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
² Computational Biology Division, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Observatory, 7925, South Africa.
³ Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Rd, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
⁴ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA.
⁵ College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 17101 Point Lena Loop Road, Juneau, AK 99801, USA.
⁶ School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
⁷ HT Harvey and Associates, Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA.
⁸ Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA.
⁹ Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA. Electronic address: Jenn.Burns@ttu.edu.
¹⁰ The Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, Center for Evolution and Medicine, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA; Structural Biology Research Unit, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town, 7925 Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: arvind.varsani@asu.edu.

Abstract

Circoviridae is a family of circular single-stranded DNA viruses whose members infect a wide variety of hosts. While well characterized in avian and mammalian hosts, little is known about circoviruses associated with Antarctic animals. From 48 Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) fecal samples collected on the sea ice in McMurdo between Nov 2014 and Dec 2014, we identified and determined the genomes of novel viruses that fall within two genera of the family Circoviridae, i.e. Circovirus (n = 7) and Cyclovirus (n = 45). We named these viruses as werosea circovirus (WerCV) and werosea cyclovirus (WerCyV). The genomes of WerCV and WerCyV share ~63-64% genome-wide pairwise identity with classified circoviruses and cycloviruses, respectively. Based on the species demarcation threshold of 80% for members of the Circoviridae, the genomes of WerCV and WerCyV represent new species in their respective genera. Evidence indicated recombination in five of the 45 WerCyV genomes identified in this study. These are the first circoviruses found associated with Antarctic pinnipeds, adding to those recently identified associated with Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and chinstrap penguins (P. antarcticus).

Keywords: Circoviridae; Pinnipeds; Weddell seals; ssDNA virus.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Circoviridae / classification
Circoviridae / genetics
Circoviridae / isolation & purification*
Circoviridae Infections / veterinary*
Circoviridae Infections / virology
Circovirus / classification
Circovirus / genetics
Circovirus / isolation & purification
Genome, Viral*
Seals, Earless

Grants and funding

P20 GM103395/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States