A novel papillomavirus isolated from proliferative skin lesions of a wild American beaver (Castor canadensis)

A review of sebum in mammals in relation to skin diseases, skin function, and the skin microbiome

Diseases vary among and within species but the causes of this variation can be unclear. Immune responses are an important driver of disease variation, but mechanisms on how the body resists pathogen establishment before activation of immune responses are understudied. Skin surfaces of mammals are the first line of defense against abiotic stressors and pathogens, and skin attributes such as pH, microbiomes, and lipids influence disease outcomes. Sebaceous glands produce sebum composed of multiple types of lipids with species-specific compositions. Sebum affects skin barrier function by contributing to minimizing water loss, supporting thermoregulation, protecting against pathogens, and preventing UV-induced damage. Sebum also affects skin microbiome composition both via its antimicrobial properties, and by providing potential nutrient sources. Intra- and interspecific variation in sebum composition influences skin disease outcomes in humans and domestic mammal species but is not well-characterized in wildlife. We synthesized knowledge on sebum function in mammals in relation to skin diseases and the skin microbiome. We found that sebum composition was described for only 29 live, wild mammalian species. Sebum is important in dermatophilosis, various forms of dermatitis, demodicosis, and potentially white-nose syndrome. Sebum composition likely affects disease susceptibility, as lipid components can have antimicrobial functions against specific pathogens. It is unclear why sebum composition is species-specific, but both phylogeny and environmental effects may drive differences. Our review illustrates the role of mammal sebum function and influence on skin microbes in the context of skin diseases, providing a baseline for future studies to elucidate mechanisms of disease resistance beyond immune responses.

Morphological features of coilocytary atypism of squamous papillomas of dogs

Coilocytic atypism of tumors of epithelial origin is considered as a marker of HPV infection, regardless of the type of neoplasm, which is a clinical manifestation of papillomatosis. Many neoplasms in dogs are diagnosed depending on the identification of specific cellular and tissue atypism, which underlies the histological diagnosis. According to the recent studies, the following types of neoplasm can be distinguished depending on the taxonomic affiliation of HPV: papillomas of various localization, cancerous epidermodysplasia verruciformis, pigment affects (including plaque), inverted and squamous papillomas, squamous cell carcinomas. Histological studies are an affordable diagnostic method that allows studying the morphological features of coylocytary atypism of squamous papillomas of dogs. Squamous cell papillomas in dogs have a number of morphological and cytological features, due to the predominance of the keratinization process. In this case, the process of differentiation of epithelial cells is consistent and all layers typical of the skin of dogs are distinguished. The corneal layer prevails over all the described layers, the activity of the cells of the basal layer is noted. Coilocytes are localized in a spinous and granular layer, but depending on their location, they have distinctive morphological and quantitative characteristics. Despite the polymorphism of the manifestation of coylocytary atypism in animals within the limits of specific affects, as well as depending on the type of neoplasm, there are no common morphological criteria for evaluating coylocytosis depending on oncogenesis. It was noted that the morphological and quantitative characteristics of coilocytes depend on their location, while they have a morphology described by many researchers, including in various animal species.

Assessing the Diversity of Rodent-Borne Viruses: Exploring of High-Throughput Sequencing and Classical Amplification/Sequencing Approaches

Rodents are distributed throughout the world and interact with humans in many ways. They provide vital ecosystem services, some species are useful models in biomedical research and some are held as pet animals. However, many rodent species can have adverse effects such as damage to crops and stored produce, and they are of health concern because of the transmission of pathogens to humans and livestock. The first rodent viruses were discovered by isolation approaches and resulted in break-through knowledge in immunology, molecular and cell biology, and cancer research. In addition to rodent-specific viruses, rodent-borne viruses are causing a large number of zoonotic diseases. Most prominent examples are reemerging outbreaks of human hemorrhagic fever disease cases caused by arena- and hantaviruses. In addition, rodents are reservoirs for vector-borne pathogens, such as tick-borne encephalitis virus and Borrelia spp., and may carry human pathogenic agents, but likely are not involved in their transmission to human. In our days, next-generation sequencing or high-throughput sequencing (HTS) is revolutionizing the speed of the discovery of novel viruses, but other molecular approaches, such as generic RT-PCR/PCR and rolling circle amplification techniques, contribute significantly to the rapidly ongoing process. However, the current knowledge still represents only the tip of the iceberg, when comparing the known human viruses to those known for rodents, the mammalian taxon with the largest species number. The diagnostic potential of HTS-based metagenomic approaches is illustrated by their use in the discovery and complete genome determination of novel borna- and adenoviruses as causative disease agents in squirrels. In conclusion, HTS, in combination with conventional RT-PCR/PCR-based approaches, resulted in a drastically increased knowledge of the diversity of rodent viruses. Future improvements of the used workflows, including bioinformatics analysis, will further enhance our knowledge and preparedness in case of the emergence of novel viruses. Classical virological and additional molecular approaches are needed for genome annotation and functional characterization of novel viruses, discovered by these technologies, and evaluation of their zoonotic potential.

Bovine papillomavirus type 2 infects the urinary bladder of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and plays a crucial role in bubaline urothelial carcinogenesis

Bovine papillomavirus type 2 (BPV-2) has been shown to infect and play a role in urinary bladder carcinogenesis of buffaloes grazed on pastures with ferns from the Marmara and Black Sea Regions of Turkey. BPV-2 DNA has been found in both neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions of the urinary bladder. Furthermore, this virus may be a normal inhabitant of the urinary bladder since BPV-2 DNA has also been detected in clinically normal buffaloes. The viral activation by fern immunosuppressant or carcinogen may trigger the urothelial cell transformation. The E5 oncoprotein was solely detected in urothelial tumours and appeared to be co-localized with the overexpressed and phosphorylated platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) β receptor in a double-colour immunofluorescence assay. Our results indicate that the E5-PDGF β receptor interaction also occurs in spontaneous tumours of the bubaline urinary bladder, revealing an additional role of BPV-2 in bladder carcinogenesis of buffaloes.