Detection and Molecular Characterization of Adenoviruses in Captive and Free-Roaming African Green Monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus): Evidence for Possible Recombination and Cross-Species Transmission

Viruses. 2023 Jul 22;15(7):1605. doi: 10.3390/v15071605.

Abstract

In the present study, 31 samples (12 fecal, 9 nasal and 10 rectal swabs) from 28/92 (30.43%, 10 captive and 18 free-roaming African green monkeys (AGMs, Chlorocebus sabaeus)) apparently healthy AGMs in the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts tested positive for adenoviruses (AdVs) by DNA-dependent DNA polymerase (pol)-, or hexon-based screening PCR assays. Based on analysis of partial deduced amino acid sequences of Pol- and hexon- of nine AGM AdVs, at least two AdV genetic variants (group-I: seven AdVs with a Simian mastadenovirus-F (SAdV-F)/SAdV-18-like Pol and hexon, and group-II: two AdVs with a SAdV-F/SAdV-18-like Pol and a Human mastadenovirus-F (HAdV-F)/HAdV-40-like hexon) were identified, which was corroborated by analysis of the nearly complete putative Pol, complete hexon, and partial penton base sequences of a representative group-I (strain KNA-08975), and -II (KNA-S6) AdV. SAdV-F-like AdVs were reported for the first time in free-roaming non-human primates (NHPs) and after ~six decades from captive NHPs. Molecular characterization of KNA-S6 (and the other group-II AdV) indicated possible recombination and cross-species transmission events involving SAdV-F-like and HAdV-F-like viruses, corroborating the hypothesis that the evolutionary pathways of HAdVs and SAdVs are intermingled, complicated by recombination and inter-species transmission events, especially between related AdV species, such as HAdV-F and SAdV-F. To our knowledge, this is the first report on detection and molecular characterization of AdVs in AGMs.

Keywords: African green monkey (AGM); DNA-dependent DNA polymerase; Human mastadenovirus-F; Simian mastadenovirus-F; adenovirus; captive AGM; free-roaming AGM; hexon; penton base.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenoviridae Infections* / transmission
  • Adenoviridae Infections* / veterinary
  • Adenoviridae Infections* / virology
  • Adenoviridae* / classification
  • Adenoviridae* / genetics
  • Adenoviridae* / isolation & purification
  • Animals
  • Animals, Wild
  • Animals, Zoo
  • Chlorocebus aethiops*
  • Monkey Diseases* / transmission
  • Monkey Diseases* / virology
  • Phylogeny
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis

Grants and funding

The present study received financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF)- funded project ‘Preventing the COSTS of Invasive Alien Species in Barbados and the OECS Countries’, which was supported and implemented by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and executed by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Action, and Constituency Development (formerly known as Ministry of Environment and Cooperatives), St. Kitts, in St. Kitts (grant # Research X Ctr 1 Ghosh (Virus Interface)), and intramural grant # 41017-2023 from the One Health Center for Zoonoses and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, St. Kitts and Nevis.