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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Zoological Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1461135
This article is part of the Research Topic Innovations in surveillance and control of emerging and re-emerging diseases in wildlife View all articles
VIRAL METAGENOMIC SURVEY OF CASPIAN SEALS
Provisionally accepted- 1 Research and Production Center for Microbiology and Virology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
- 2 School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Viral diseases of pinnipeds cause substantial mortality and morbidity and can influence population demography. Viral metagenomic studies can therefore play an important role in pinniped health assessments and disease surveillance relevant to both individual species and in a 'One Health' context. This study used a metagenomic approach with high throughput sequencing to make the first assessment of viral diversity in Caspian seals (Pusa caspica), the only marine mammal species endemic to the Caspian Sea. Sequencing libraries from 35 seals sampled 2009-2020 were analysed, finding sequences from the viral families Circoviridae, Parvoviridae, Herpesviridae, Papillomaviridae, Picornaviridae, Caliciviridae, Cruciviridae, Anelloviridae, Smacoviridae, and Orthomyxoviridae, with additional detection of Adenoviridae via PCR. The similarity of viral contigs from Caspian seal to sequences recovered from other pinnipeds ranged from 63.74% (San Miguel sea lion calicivirus) to 78.79% (Seal anellovirus 4). Some may represent novel viral species, but overall, the viral repertoire of Caspian seals is similar to available viromes from other pinnipeds. Among the sequences recovered were partial contigs for influenza B, representing only the second such molecular identification in marine mammals. This work provides a foundation for further studies of viral communities in Caspian seals, the diversity of viromes in pinnipeds more generally, and contributes data relevant for disease risk assessments in marine mammals.
Keywords: Caspian seal, Pusa capsica, Viral metagenome, marine mammals, pinniped, virome, wildlife diseases
Received: 07 Jul 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Karamendin, Goodman, Kasymbekov, Kumar, Nuralibekov and Kydyrmanov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Kobey Karamendin, Research and Production Center for Microbiology and Virology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Aidyn Kydyrmanov, Research and Production Center for Microbiology and Virology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
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