PMID- 33572619
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20210312
LR  - 20210316
IS  - 1999-4915 (Electronic)
IS  - 1999-4915 (Linking)
VI  - 13
IP  - 2
DP  - 2021 Jan 31
TI  - Emergence of a Novel Pathogenic Poxvirus Infection in the Endangered Green Sea 
      Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Highlights a Key Threatening Process.
LID - 10.3390/v13020219 [doi]
LID - 219
AB  - Emerging viral disease is a significant concern, with potential consequences for 
      human, animal and environmental health. Over the past several decades, multiple 
      novel viruses have been found in wildlife species, including reptiles, and often 
      pose a major threat to vulnerable species. However, whilst a large number of 
      viruses have been described in turtles, information on poxvirus in cheloniids 
      remains scarce, with no molecular sequence data available to date. This study 
      characterizes, for the first time, a novel poxvirus, here tentatively designated 
      cheloniid poxvirus 1 (ChePV-1). The affected cutaneous tissue, recovered from a 
      green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) captured off the Central Queensland coast of 
      Australia, underwent histological examination, transmission electron microscopy 
      (TEM), DNA extraction and genomic sequencing. The novel ChePV-1 was shown to be 
      significantly divergent from other known poxviruses and showed the highest 
      sequence similarity (89.3%) to avipoxviruses (shearwater poxvirus 2 (SWPV2)). 
      This suggests the novel ChePV-1 may have originated from a common ancestor that 
      diverged from an avipoxvirus-like progenitor. The genome contained three 
      predicted unique genes and a further 15 genes being truncated/fragmented compared 
      to SWPV2. This is the first comprehensive study that demonstrates evidence of 
      poxvirus infection in a marine turtle species, as well as a rare example of an 
      avipoxvirus crossing the avian-host barrier. This finding warrants further 
      investigations into poxvirus infections between species in close physical 
      proximity, as well as in vitro and in vivo studies of pathogenesis and disease.
FAU - Sarker, Subir
AU  - Sarker S
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-2685-8377
AD  - Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, La 
      Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
FAU - Hannon, Christabel
AU  - Hannon C
AD  - School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, UQ Gatton Campus, Gatton, 
      QLD 4343, Australia.
FAU - Athukorala, Ajani
AU  - Athukorala A
AD  - Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, La 
      Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
FAU - Bielefeldt-Ohmann, Helle
AU  - Bielefeldt-Ohmann H
AD  - School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, UQ Gatton Campus, Gatton, 
      QLD 4343, Australia.
AD  - Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, The University of Queensland, St. 
      Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20210131
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Viruses
JT  - Viruses
JID - 101509722
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Australia
MH  - Communicable Diseases, Emerging/*veterinary/virology
MH  - Phylogeny
MH  - Poxviridae/classification/genetics/isolation & purification
MH  - Poxviridae Infections/*veterinary/virology
MH  - Turtles/*virology
PMC - PMC7911307
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - green sea turtle
OT  - poxvirus
OT  - skin lesions
OT  - species conservation
COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interests.
EDAT- 2021/02/13 06:00
MHDA- 2021/03/13 06:00
PMCR- 2021/01/31
CRDT- 2021/02/12 01:02
PHST- 2021/01/14 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2021/01/22 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2021/01/28 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2021/02/12 01:02 [entrez]
PHST- 2021/02/13 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/03/13 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2021/01/31 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - v13020219 [pii]
AID - viruses-13-00219 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/v13020219 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Viruses. 2021 Jan 31;13(2):219. doi: 10.3390/v13020219.