Polyomaviruses are widely distributed viruses of birds that may induce developmental deformities and internal organ disorders primarily in nestlings. In this study, polyomavirus sequence was detected in kidney and liver samples of a common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) that succumbed at a rescue station in Hungary. The amplified 5025 nucleotide (nt) long genome contained the early (large and small T antigen, LTA and STA) and late (viral proteins, VP1, VP2, VP3) open reading frames (ORFs) typical for polyomaviruses. One of the additional putative ORFs (named VP4) showed identical localization with the VP4 and ORF-X of gammapolyomaviruses, but putative splicing sites could not be found in its sequence. Interestingly, the predicted 123 amino acid (aa) long protein sequence showed the highest similarity with human papillomavirus E4 early proteins in respect of the aa distribution and motif arrangement implying similar functions. The LTA of the kestrel polyomavirus shared <59.2% nt and aa pairwise identity with the LTA sequence of other polyomaviruses and formed a separated branch in the phylogenetic tree among gammapolyomaviruses. Accordingly, the kestrel polyomavirus may be the first member of a novel species within the Gammapolyomavirus genus, tentatively named Gammapolyomavirus faltin.
Keywords: Bird; E4; Genome; Papillomavirus; Polyomavirus; VP4.
© 2023. The Author(s).