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Microorganisms
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Viruses of Wild Mammals
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Viruses of Wild Mammals

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Veterinary Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 16449

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Alex D. Greenwood

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Wildlife Diseases, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Interests: wildlife diseases; retroviruses; herpesviruses; viral evolution; biotic and abiotic viral vectors; high-throughput viral discovery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 and the lack of an identified animal host for this virus is an illustration of the relative lack of knowledge we have of viruses of mammalian wildlife when compared to humans or domestic animals. Zoonotic threats are not the only issue of importance with regard to wildlife viruses. They can have strong impacts on their hosts even when host-specific. They can also cause severe outbreaks in other wildlife species when they spill over, which can result in potential losses of biodiversity. Wild mammals are abundant, exceptionally diverse, and often difficult to access or sample, which also can hinder progress in understanding their virology. Considering that the majority of viruses reside in wildlife, a full understanding of their ecology and evolution requires research on wildlife.

This Special Issue on “Viruses of Wild Mammals” is intended to bring together articles on viruses discovered in diverse wildlife of any mammalian order, in the wild or in captivity, and describe novel findings on their virology. In addition, we encourage submission of articles on technical advancement in working with viruses from samples collected in the wild that help to overcome the many challenges associated with field-based studies.

Prof. Alex D. Greenwood
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • virus
  • mammal
  • evolution
  • ecology: molecular biology

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

6 pages, 755 KiB  
Communication
Serological Evidence That SARS-CoV-2 Has Not Emerged in Deer in Germany or Austria during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Andres Moreira-Soto, Christian Walzer, Gábor Á. Czirják, Martin H. Richter, Stephen F. Marino, Annika Posautz, Pau De Yebra Rodo, Gayle K. McEwen, Jan Felix Drexler and Alex D. Greenwood
Microorganisms 2022, 10(4), 748; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms10040748 - 30 Mar 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4288
Abstract
Spillover of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has been documented. However, it is unclear if this is a phenomenon specific to North American deer or is a broader problem. We evaluated [...] Read more.
Spillover of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has been documented. However, it is unclear if this is a phenomenon specific to North American deer or is a broader problem. We evaluated pre and pandemic exposure of German and Austrian deer species using a SARS-CoV-2 pseudoneutralization assay. In stark contrast to North American white-tailed deer, we found no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses of Wild Mammals)
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26 pages, 5290 KiB  
Article
Viral Metagenomic Data Analyses of Five New World Bat Species from Argentina: Identification of 35 Novel DNA Viruses
by Elisa M. Bolatti, Gastón Viarengo, Tomaz M. Zorec, Agustina Cerri, María E. Montani, Lea Hosnjak, Pablo E. Casal, Eugenia Bortolotto, Violeta Di Domenica, Diego Chouhy, María Belén Allasia, Rubén M. Barquez, Mario Poljak and Adriana A. Giri
Microorganisms 2022, 10(2), 266; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms10020266 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4699
Abstract
Bats are natural reservoirs of a variety of zoonotic viruses, many of which cause severe human diseases. Characterizing viruses of bats inhabiting different geographical regions is important for understanding their viral diversity and for detecting viral spillovers between animal species. Herein, the diversity [...] Read more.
Bats are natural reservoirs of a variety of zoonotic viruses, many of which cause severe human diseases. Characterizing viruses of bats inhabiting different geographical regions is important for understanding their viral diversity and for detecting viral spillovers between animal species. Herein, the diversity of DNA viruses of five arthropodophagous bat species from Argentina was investigated using metagenomics. Fecal samples of 29 individuals from five species (Tadarida brasiliensis, Molossus molossus, Eumops bonariensis, Eumops patagonicus, and Eptesicus diminutus) living at two different geographical locations, were investigated. Enriched viral DNA was sequenced using Illumina MiSeq, and the reads were trimmed and filtered using several bioinformatic approaches. The resulting nucleotide sequences were subjected to viral taxonomic classification. In total, 4,520,370 read pairs were sequestered by sequencing, and 21.1% of them mapped to viral taxa. Circoviridae and Genomoviridae were the most prevalent among vertebrate viral families in all bat species included in this study. Samples from the T. brasiliensis colony exhibited lower viral diversity than samples from other species of New World bats. We characterized 35 complete genome sequences of novel viruses. These findings provide new insights into the global diversity of bat viruses in poorly studied species, contributing to prevention of emerging zoonotic diseases and to conservation policies for endangered species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses of Wild Mammals)
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12 pages, 457 KiB  
Article
Torque Teno Sus Virus (TTSuV) Prevalence in Wild Fauna of Northern Italy
by Francesco Righi, Sara Arnaboldi, Virginia Filipello, Giovanni Ianiro, Ilaria Di Bartolo, Stefania Calò, Silvia Bellini, Tiziana Trogu, Davide Lelli, Alessandro Bianchi, Silvia Bonardi, Enrico Pavoni, Barbara Bertasi and Antonio Lavazza
Microorganisms 2022, 10(2), 242; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms10020242 - 22 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2362
Abstract
Torque teno sus virus (TTSuV) is a non-enveloped circular ssDNA virus which frequently infects swine and has been associated with hepatic, respiratory, and autoimmune disorders. TTSuV’s pathogenic role is still uncertain, and clear data in the literature on virus reservoirs are lacking. The [...] Read more.
Torque teno sus virus (TTSuV) is a non-enveloped circular ssDNA virus which frequently infects swine and has been associated with hepatic, respiratory, and autoimmune disorders. TTSuV’s pathogenic role is still uncertain, and clear data in the literature on virus reservoirs are lacking. The aims of this study were to investigate the presence of potentially zoonotic TTSuV in wild animals in Northern Italy and to evaluate their role as reservoirs. Liver samples were collected between 2016 and 2020 during four hunting seasons from wild boars (Sus scrofa), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), and chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra). Samples originated from areas in Northern Italy characterized by different traits, i.e., mountains and flatland with, respectively low and high farm density and anthropization. Viral identification was carried out by end-point PCR with specific primers for TTSuV1a and TTSuVk2a species. TTSuV prevalence in wild boars was higher in the mountains than in the flatland (prevalence of 6.2% and 2.3%, respectively). In wild ruminants only TTSuVk2a was detected (with a prevalence of 9.4%). Our findings shed light on the occurrence and distribution of TTSuV in some wild animal species, investigating their possible role as reservoirs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses of Wild Mammals)
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10 pages, 1568 KiB  
Article
Detection of Systemic Canine Kobuvirus Infection in Peripheral Tissues and the Central Nervous System of a Fox Infected with Canine Distemper Virus
by Franziska K. Kaiser, Lydia van Dyck, Wendy K. Jo, Tom Schreiner, Vanessa M. Pfankuche, Peter Wohlsein, Ilka Baumann, Martin Peters, Wolfgang Baumgärtner, Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus and Martin Ludlow
Microorganisms 2021, 9(12), 2521; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9122521 - 06 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2307
Abstract
Canine kobuvirus (CaKV) is a globally distributed pathogen of dogs and is predominantly associated with infection of the gastrointestinal tract. However, an etiological link to enteric disease has not been established since CaKV has been identified in both asymptomatic dogs and animals with [...] Read more.
Canine kobuvirus (CaKV) is a globally distributed pathogen of dogs and is predominantly associated with infection of the gastrointestinal tract. However, an etiological link to enteric disease has not been established since CaKV has been identified in both asymptomatic dogs and animals with diarrheic symptoms. In this study, an extraintestinal CaKV infection was detected by next-generation sequencing in a fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Germany concomitant with a canine distemper virus (canine morbillivirus; CDV) co-infection. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete coding region sequence showed that this strain was most closely related to a CaKV strain detected in a dog in the United Kingdom in 2008. The tissue and cellular tropism of CaKV was characterized by the detection of viral antigens and RNA. CaKV RNA was detected by in situ hybridization in different tissues, including epithelial cells of the stomach and ependymal cells in the brain. The use of a new RT-qPCR assay for CaKV confirmed the systemic distribution of CaKV with viral RNA also detected in the lymph nodes, bladder, trachea, and brain. The detection of a CDV infection in this fox suggests that immunosuppression should be further investigated as a contributing factor to the enhanced extraintestinal spread of CaKV. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses of Wild Mammals)
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15 pages, 4909 KiB  
Article
Cell Culture Isolation and Whole Genome Characterization of Hepatitis E Virus Strains from Wild Boars in Germany
by Katja Schilling-Loeffler, Oliver Viera-Segura, Victor Max Corman, Julia Schneider, Ashish K. Gadicherla, Ulrich Schotte and Reimar Johne
Microorganisms 2021, 9(11), 2302; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9112302 - 05 Nov 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1960
Abstract
Infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV) can cause acute and chronic hepatitis in humans. The HEV genotype 3 can be zoonotically transmitted from animals to humans, with wild boars representing an important reservoir species. Cell culture isolation of HEV is generally difficult and [...] Read more.
Infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV) can cause acute and chronic hepatitis in humans. The HEV genotype 3 can be zoonotically transmitted from animals to humans, with wild boars representing an important reservoir species. Cell culture isolation of HEV is generally difficult and mainly described for human isolates so far. Here, five sera and five liver samples from HEV-RNA-positive wild boar samples were inoculated onto PLC/PRF/5 cells, incubated for 3 months and thereafter passaged for additional 6 weeks. As demonstrated by RT-qPCR, immunofluorescence and immune electron microscopy, virus was successfully isolated from two liver samples, which originally contained high HEV genome copy numbers. Both isolates showed slower growth than the culture-adapted HEV strain 47832c. In contrast to this strain, the isolated strains had no insertions in their hypervariable genome region. Next generation sequencing using an HEV sequence-enriched library enabled full genome sequencing. Strain Wb108/17 belongs to subtype 3f and strain Wb257/17 to a tentative novel subtype recently described in Italian wild boars. The results indicate that HEV can be successfully isolated in cell culture from wild boar samples containing high HEV genome copy numbers. The isolates may be used further to study the zoonotic potential of wild boar-derived HEV subtypes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses of Wild Mammals)
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