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Surján A, Harrach B, Vidovszky MZ. Complete genome characterization and phylogenetic analysis of a novel polyomavirus detected in Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber). INFECTION, GENETICS AND EVOLUTION : JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2024; 123:105620. [PMID: 38876268 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2024.105620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2024] [Revised: 06/04/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), native to Hungary, faced local extinction in 1865 and was successfully reintroduced between mid-1980s and 2008. Despite screening programs focusing on animal health during reintroduction in other countries, information about viruses in the Hungarian beaver population remains limited. Polyomaviruses (PyVs) have been identified in various rodents, and have been detected just recently in beavers by us. In this paper we present the full genome analysis of the first PyV detected in Eurasian beaver. The novel PyV was discovered in the kidney tissues of two specimens. The genome is 5244 bp, and contains four genes. Small T-antigen (STAg) and alternative large T ORF (ALTO) genes are directly fused together forming the middle T-antigen (MTAg). VP3 is absent from the genome. Its large T-antigen (LTAg) coding sequence exhibited over 15% genetic divergence from known PyVs, supporting its classification into a new species within the genus Alphapolyomavirus, suggesting to be named Alphapolyomavirus castoris. Phylogenetic analysis, based on the LTAg gene showed, that the beaver PyV forms a distinct clade with primate PyVs within the genus Alphapolyomavirus, separate from other rodent PyVs. Phylogenetic study of the VP1 gene however showed this virus to belong in a distinct clade with the same primate PyVs, and additionally PyVs from rodents and a myocastor, which suggest host virus co-evolution. The virus detection of the euthanized beavers suggests an apathogenic persistent infections. The aquatic lifestyle of beavers may influence virus transmission, warranting further exploration of undiscovered viruses in beavers.
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Affiliation(s)
- András Surján
- HUN-REN Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungária krt. 21, H-1143 Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Balázs Harrach
- HUN-REN Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungária krt. 21, H-1143 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Márton Z Vidovszky
- HUN-REN Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungária krt. 21, H-1143 Budapest, Hungary
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Böswald LF, Popper B, Matzek D, Neuhaus K, Wenderlein J. Characterization of the gastrointestinal microbiome of the Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) and comparison to data from mice. FEBS Open Bio 2024. [PMID: 39097990 DOI: 10.1002/2211-5463.13869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Revised: 06/21/2024] [Accepted: 07/17/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) have been increasingly used as rodent models in recent years, especially for SARS-CoV-2 since the pandemic. However, the physiology of this animal model is not yet well-understood, even less when considering the digestive tract. Generally, the gastrointestinal microbiome influences the immune system, drug metabolism, and vaccination efficacy. However, a detailed understanding of the gastrointestinal microbiome of hamsters is missing. Therefore, we analyzed 10 healthy 11-week-old RjHan:AURA hamsters fed a pelleted standard diet. Their gastrointestinal content was sampled (i.e., forestomach, glandular stomach, ileum, cecum, and colon) and analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results displayed a distinct difference in the bacterial community before and after the cecum, possibly due to the available nutrients and digestive functions. Next, we compared hamsters with the literature data of young-adult C57BL/6J mice, another important animal model. We sampled the same gastrointestinal regions and analyzed the differences in the microbiome between both rodents. Surprisingly, we found strong differences in their specific gastrointestinal bacterial communities. For instance, Lactobacillaceae were more abundant in hamsters' forestomach and ileum, while Muribaculaceae dominated in the mouse forestomach and ileum. Similarly, in mouse cecum and colon, Muribaculaceae were dominant, while in hamsters, Lachnospiraceae and Erysipelotrichaceae dominated the bacterial community. Molecular strains of Muribaculaceae in both rodent species displayed some species specificity. This comparison allows a better understanding of the suitability of the Syrian hamster as an animal model, especially regarding its comparability to other rodent models. Thereby, this work contributes to the characterization of the hamster model and allows better experimental planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda F Böswald
- Core Facility Animal Models, Biomedical Center, Medical Faculty, LMU Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Bastian Popper
- Core Facility Animal Models, Biomedical Center, Medical Faculty, LMU Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Dana Matzek
- Core Facility Animal Models, Biomedical Center, Medical Faculty, LMU Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Klaus Neuhaus
- Core Facility Microbiome, ZIEL Institute for Food & Health, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
| | - Jasmin Wenderlein
- Chair for Bacteriology and Mycology, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Institute for Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, LMU Munich, Oberschleißheim, Germany
- Department for Biological Safety, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
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Ito S, Chambers JK, Son NV, Kita C, Ise KI, Miwa Y, Nakayama H, Uchida K. Hamster polyomavirus-associated T-cell lymphomas in Syrian hamsters ( Mesocricetus auratus). Vet Pathol 2023; 60:267-275. [PMID: 36537739 DOI: 10.1177/03009858221140823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Hamster polyomavirus (HaPyV) infection has been associated with lymphomas in Syrian hamsters. In the present study, 14 cases of lymphoma in pet Syrian hamsters were pathologically examined and the involvement of HaPyV was investigated. Among 14 cases, 11 were abdominal and 3 were cutaneous lymphomas. The average ages of hamsters with abdominal lymphoma and cutaneous lymphoma were 7 months (range: 4-12 months) and 14 months (range: 6-23 months), respectively. Histologically, abdominal lymphomas were characterized by the diffuse growth of tumor cells with intermediate or large nuclei, low mitotic rates, the presence of tingible body macrophages, and the T-cell immunophenotype. Furthermore, 4/11 abdominal lymphomas were immunopositive for T-cell intracellular antigen-1, suggesting cytotoxic T-cell lymphomas. Cutaneous lymphomas were diagnosed as nonepitheliotropic T-cell lymphoma. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detected HaPyV DNA in 12/14 samples, and a sequence analysis of PCR amplicons confirmed >99% nucleotide identity to the published HaPyV sequences. In situ hybridization (ISH) for HaPyV DNA resulted in diffuse nuclear signals within tumor cells in 10/14 cases. Consistent with previous findings, all HaPyV-associated lymphomas were observed in the abdominal cavity of young hamsters. Polymerase chain reaction and ISH were useful for identifying the involvement of HaPyV in lymphomas, and ISH results indicated the presence of episomal HaPyV in neoplastic lymphocytes. The present study suggests that HaPyV infection is highly involved in abdominal lymphomas in young pet Syrian hamsters in Japan and provides diagnostic information on HaPyV-associated lymphoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soma Ito
- The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Nguyen Vu Son
- The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.,Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Chiaki Kita
- Shikoku Cytopathological Laboratory, Takamatsu-shi, Japan
| | | | - Yasutsugu Miwa
- Miwa Exotic Animal Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.,Vision Vets Group Lab, Tokyo, Japan
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Wang Z, Cormier RT. Golden Syrian Hamster Models for Cancer Research. Cells 2022; 11:2395. [PMID: 35954238 PMCID: PMC9368453 DOI: 10.3390/cells11152395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The golden Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) has long been a valuable rodent model of human diseases, especially infectious and metabolic diseases. Hamsters have also been valuable models of several chemically induced cancers such as the DMBA-induced oral cheek pouch cancer model. Recently, with the application of CRISPR/Cas9 genetic engineering technology, hamsters can now be gene targeted as readily as mouse models. This review describes the phenotypes of three gene-targeted knockout (KO) hamster cancer models, TP53, KCNQ1, and IL2RG. Notably, these hamster models demonstrate cancer phenotypes not observed in mouse KOs. In some cases, the cancers that arise in the KO hamster are similar to cancers that arise in humans, in contrast with KO mice that do not develop the cancers. An example is the development of aggressive acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in TP53 KO hamsters. The review also presents a discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of mouse cancer models and hamster cancer models and argues that there are no perfect rodent models of cancer and that the genetically engineered hamster cancer models can complement mouse models and expand the suite of animal cancer models available for the development of new cancer therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhongde Wang
- Department of Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
| | - Robert T. Cormier
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth, MN 55812, USA
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Moens U, Prezioso C, Pietropaolo V. Functional Domains of the Early Proteins and Experimental and Epidemiological Studies Suggest a Role for the Novel Human Polyomaviruses in Cancer. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:834368. [PMID: 35250950 PMCID: PMC8894888 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.834368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
As their name indicates, polyomaviruses (PyVs) can induce tumors. Mouse PyV, hamster PyV and raccoon PyV have been shown to cause tumors in their natural host. During the last 30 years, 15 PyVs have been isolated from humans. From these, Merkel cell PyV is classified as a Group 2A carcinogenic pathogen (probably carcinogenic to humans), whereas BKPyV and JCPyV are class 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Although the other PyVs recently detected in humans (referred to here as novel HPyV; nHPyV) share many common features with PyVs, including the viral oncoproteins large tumor antigen and small tumor antigen, as their role in cancer is questioned. This review discusses whether the nHPyVs may play a role in cancer based on predicted and experimentally proven functions of their early proteins in oncogenic processes. The functional domains that mediate the oncogenic properties of early proteins of known PyVs, that can cause cancer in their natural host or animal models, have been well characterized and we examined whether these functional domains are conserved in the early proteins of the nHPyVs and presented experimental evidence that these conserved domains are functional. Furthermore, we reviewed the literature describing the detection of nHPyV in human tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ugo Moens
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- *Correspondence: Ugo Moens,
| | - Carla Prezioso
- Microbiology of Chronic Neuro-Degenerative Pathologies, IRCSS San Raffaele Roma, Rome, Italy
- Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Valeria Pietropaolo
- Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Valeria Pietropaolo,
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Eiden M, Gedvilaite A, Leidel F, Ulrich RG, Groschup MH. Vaccination with Prion Peptide-Displaying Polyomavirus-Like Particles Prolongs Incubation Time in Scrapie-Infected Mice. Viruses 2021; 13:v13050811. [PMID: 33946367 PMCID: PMC8147134 DOI: 10.3390/v13050811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion diseases like scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle or Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) in humans are fatal neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the conformational conversion of the normal, mainly α-helical cellular prion protein (PrPC) into the abnormal β-sheet rich infectious isoform PrPSc. Various therapeutic or prophylactic approaches have been conducted, but no approved therapeutic treatment is available so far. Immunisation against prions is hampered by the self-tolerance to PrPC in mammalian species. One strategy to avoid this tolerance is presenting PrP variants in virus-like particles (VLPs). Therefore, we vaccinated C57/BL6 mice with nine prion peptide variants presented by hamster polyomavirus capsid protein VP1/VP2-derived VLPs. Mice were subsequently challenged intraperitoneally with the murine RML prion strain. Importantly, one group exhibited significantly increased mean survival time of 240 days post-inoculation compared with 202 days of the control group. These data show that immunisation with VLPs presenting PrP peptides may represent a promising strategy for an effective vaccination against transmissible spongiform encephalitis agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Eiden
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany; (F.L.); (R.G.U.); (M.H.G.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Alma Gedvilaite
- Life Sciences Center, Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio al. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania;
| | - Fabienne Leidel
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany; (F.L.); (R.G.U.); (M.H.G.)
- Task Force Animal Diseases, Darmstadt Regional Administrative Council, Luisenplatz 2, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Rainer G. Ulrich
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany; (F.L.); (R.G.U.); (M.H.G.)
| | - Martin H. Groschup
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany; (F.L.); (R.G.U.); (M.H.G.)
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