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Grimwood RM, Reyes EMR, Cooper J, Welch J, Taylor G, Makan T, Lim L, Dubrulle J, McInnes K, Holmes EC, Geoghegan JL. From islands to infectomes: host-specific viral diversity among birds across remote islands. BMC Ecol Evol 2024; 24:84. [PMID: 38926829 PMCID: PMC11209962 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-024-02277-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 06/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Accelerating biodiversity loss necessitates monitoring the potential pathogens of vulnerable species. With a third of New Zealand's avifauna considered at risk of extinction, a greater understanding of the factors that influence microbial transmission in this island ecosystem is needed. We used metatranscriptomics to determine the viruses, as well as other microbial organisms (i.e. the infectomes), of seven bird species, including the once critically endangered black robin (Petroica traversi), on two islands in the remote Chatham Islands archipelago, New Zealand. RESULTS We identified 19 likely novel avian viruses across nine viral families. Black robins harboured viruses from the Flaviviridae, Herpesviridae, and Picornaviridae, while introduced starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) and migratory seabirds (Procellariiformes) carried viruses from six additional viral families. Potential cross-species virus transmission of a novel passerivirus (family: Picornaviridae) between native (black robins and grey-backed storm petrels) and introduced (starlings) birds was also observed. Additionally, we identified bacterial genera, apicomplexan parasites, as well as a novel megrivirus linked to disease outbreaks in other native New Zealand birds. Notably, island effects were outweighed by host taxonomy as a significant driver of viral composition, even among sedentary birds. CONCLUSIONS These findings underscore the value of surveillance of avian populations to identify and minimise escalating threats of disease emergence and spread in these island ecosystems. Importantly, they contribute to our understanding of the potential role of introduced and migratory birds in the transmission of microbes and associated diseases, which could impact vulnerable island-endemic species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca M Grimwood
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand
| | - Enzo M R Reyes
- Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai, Nelson, New Zealand
| | - Jamie Cooper
- Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai, Nelson, New Zealand
| | - Jemma Welch
- Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai, Nelson, New Zealand
| | - Graeme Taylor
- Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai, Nelson, New Zealand
| | - Troy Makan
- Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai, Nelson, New Zealand
| | - Lauren Lim
- School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Jérémy Dubrulle
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand
| | - Kate McInnes
- Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai, Nelson, New Zealand
| | - Edward C Holmes
- School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Jemma L Geoghegan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand.
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Wellington, 5018, New Zealand.
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Waller SJ, Tortosa P, Thurley T, O’Donnell CFJ, Jackson R, Dennis G, Grimwood RM, Holmes EC, McInnes K, Geoghegan JL. Virome analysis of New Zealand's bats reveals cross-species viral transmission among the Coronaviridae. Virus Evol 2024; 10:veae008. [PMID: 38379777 PMCID: PMC10878368 DOI: 10.1093/ve/veae008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/21/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024] Open
Abstract
The lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) and the long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) are Aotearoa New Zealand's only native extant terrestrial mammals and are believed to have migrated from Australia. Long-tailed bats arrived in New Zealand an estimated two million years ago and are closely related to other Australian bat species. Lesser short-tailed bats, in contrast, are the only extant species within the Mystacinidae and are estimated to have been living in isolation in New Zealand for the past 16-18 million years. Throughout this period of isolation, lesser short-tailed bats have become one of the most terrestrial bats in the world. Through a metatranscriptomic analysis of guano samples from eight locations across New Zealand, we aimed to characterise the viromes of New Zealand's bats and determine whether viruses have jumped between these species over the past two million years. High viral richness was observed among long-tailed bats with viruses spanning seven different viral families. In contrast, no bat-specific viruses were identified in lesser short-tailed bats. Both bat species harboured an abundance of likely dietary- and environment-associated viruses. We also identified alphacoronaviruses in long-tailed bat guano that had previously been identified in lesser short-tailed bats, suggesting that these viruses had jumped the species barrier after long-tailed bats migrated to New Zealand. Of note, an alphacoronavirus species discovered here possessed a complete genome of only 22,416 nucleotides with entire deletions or truncations of several non-structural proteins, thereby representing what may be the shortest genome within the Coronaviridae identified to date. Overall, this study has revealed a diverse range of novel viruses harboured by New Zealand's only native terrestrial mammals, in turn expanding our understanding of bat viral dynamics and evolution globally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie J Waller
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, 720 Cumberland Street, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
| | - Pablo Tortosa
- UMR PIMIT Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical, Université de La Réunion, CNRS 9192, INSERM 1187, IRD 249, Plateforme de recherche CYROI, 2 rue Maxime Rivière, Ste Clotilde 97490, France
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
| | - Tertia Thurley
- Department of Conservation, New Zealand Government, P.O. Box 10420, Wellington 6143, New Zealand
| | - Colin F J O’Donnell
- Department of Conservation, New Zealand Government, P.O. Box 10420, Wellington 6143, New Zealand
| | - Rebecca Jackson
- Department of Conservation, New Zealand Government, P.O. Box 10420, Wellington 6143, New Zealand
| | - Gillian Dennis
- Department of Conservation, New Zealand Government, P.O. Box 10420, Wellington 6143, New Zealand
| | - Rebecca M Grimwood
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, 720 Cumberland Street, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
| | | | - Kate McInnes
- Department of Conservation, New Zealand Government, P.O. Box 10420, Wellington 6143, New Zealand
| | - Jemma L Geoghegan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, 720 Cumberland Street, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, 34 Kenepuru Drive, Kenepuru, Porirua, Wellington 5022, New Zealand
- Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Level 5, Block K, Westmead, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
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Alipour F, Holmes C, Lu YY, Hill KA, Kari L. Leveraging machine learning for taxonomic classification of emerging astroviruses. Front Mol Biosci 2024; 10:1305506. [PMID: 38274100 PMCID: PMC10808839 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1305506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Astroviruses are a family of genetically diverse viruses associated with disease in humans and birds with significant health effects and economic burdens. Astrovirus taxonomic classification includes two genera, Avastrovirus and Mamastrovirus. However, with next-generation sequencing, broader interspecies transmission has been observed necessitating a reexamination of the current host-based taxonomic classification approach. In this study, a novel taxonomic classification method is presented for emergent and as yet unclassified astroviruses, based on whole genome sequence k-mer composition in addition to host information. An optional component responsible for identifying recombinant sequences was added to the method's pipeline, to counteract the impact of genetic recombination on viral classification. The proposed three-pronged classification method consists of a supervised machine learning method, an unsupervised machine learning method, and the consideration of host species. Using this three-pronged approach, we propose genus labels for 191 as yet unclassified astrovirus genomes. Genus labels are also suggested for an additional eight as yet unclassified astrovirus genomes for which incompatibility was observed with the host species, suggesting cross-species infection. Lastly, our machine learning-based approach augmented by a principal component analysis (PCA) analysis provides evidence supporting the hypothesis of the existence of human astrovirus (HAstV) subgenus of the genus Mamastrovirus, and a goose astrovirus (GoAstV) subgenus of the genus Avastrovirus. Overall, this multipronged machine learning approach provides a fast, reliable, and scalable prediction method of taxonomic labels, able to keep pace with emerging viruses and the exponential increase in the output of modern genome sequencing technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatemeh Alipour
- School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Connor Holmes
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Yang Young Lu
- School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Kathleen A. Hill
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Lila Kari
- School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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Miranda TDS, Schiffler FB, D'arc M, Moreira FRR, Cosentino MAC, Coimbra A, Mouta R, Medeiros G, Girardi DL, Wanderkoke V, Soares CFA, Francisco TM, Henry MD, Afonso BC, Soffiati FL, Ferreira SS, Ruiz-Miranda CR, Soares MA, Santos AFA. Metagenomic analysis reveals novel dietary-related viruses in the gut virome of marmosets hybrids (Callithrix jacchus x Callithrix penicillata), Brazil. Virus Res 2023; 325:199017. [PMID: 36565815 DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2022.199017] [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: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Viral metagenomics has contributed enormously to the characterization of a wide range of viruses infecting animals of all phyla in the last decades. Among Neotropical primates, especially those introduced, knowledge about viral diversity remains poorly studied. Therefore, using metagenomics based on virus enrichment, we explored the viral microbiota present in the feces of introduced common marmosets (Callithrix sp.) in three locations from the Silva Jardim region in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fecal samples were collected from nine marmosets, pooled into three sample pools, and sequenced on Illumina MiSeq platform. Sequence reads were analyzed using a viral metagenomic analysis pipeline and two novel insect viruses belonging to the Parvoviridae and Baculoviridae families were identified. The complete genome of a densovirus (Parvoviridae family) of 5,309 nucleotides (nt) was obtained. The NS1 and VP1 proteins share lower than 32% sequence identity with the corresponding proteins of known members of the subfamily Densovirinae. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that this virus represents a new genus, provisionally named Afoambidensovirus due to its discovery in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The novel species received the name Afoambidensovirus incertum 1. The complete circular genome of a baculovirus of 107,191 nt was also obtained, showing 60.8% sequence identity with the most closely related member of the Baculoviridae family. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that this virus represents a new species in the Betabaculovirus genus, provisionally named Betabaculovirus incertum 1. In addition, sequences from several families of arthropods in the three pools evaluated were characterized (contigs ranging from 244 to 6,750 nt), corroborating the presence of possible insect hosts with which these new viruses may be associated. Our study expands the knowledge about two viral families known to infect insects, an important component of the marmosets' diet. This identification in hosts' feces samples demonstrates one of the many uses of this type of data and could serve as a basis for future research characterizing viruses in wildlife using noninvasive samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thamiris Dos Santos Miranda
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | | | - Mirela D'arc
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Filipe Romero Rebello Moreira
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | | | - Amanda Coimbra
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Ricardo Mouta
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Gabriel Medeiros
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Déa Luiza Girardi
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Victor Wanderkoke
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Caique Ferreira Amaral Soares
- Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, Silva Jardim, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
| | - Talitha Mayumi Francisco
- Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, Silva Jardim, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
| | - Malinda Dawn Henry
- Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
| | - Bianca Cardozo Afonso
- Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, Silva Jardim, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
| | | | | | - Carlos Ramon Ruiz-Miranda
- Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, Silva Jardim, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
| | - Marcelo Alves Soares
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Programa de Oncovirologia, Instituto Nacional de Câncer, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - André Felipe Andrade Santos
- Laboratório de Diversidade e Doenças Virais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
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French RK, Stone ZL, Parker KA, Holmes EC. Novel viral and microbial species in a translocated Toutouwai (Petroica longipes) population from Aotearoa/New Zealand. ONE HEALTH OUTLOOK 2022; 4:16. [PMID: 36224666 PMCID: PMC9558408 DOI: 10.1186/s42522-022-00072-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Translocation is a common tool in wildlife management and its implementation has resulted in many conservation successes. During translocations, any associated infectious agents are moved with their wildlife hosts. Accordingly, translocations can present a risk of infectious disease emergence, although they also provide an opportunity to restore natural infectious communities ('infectome') and mitigate the long-term risks of reduced natural resistance. METHODS We used metatranscriptomic sequencing to characterise the cloacal infectome of 41 toutouwai (North Island robin, Petroica longipes) that were translocated to establish a new population within the North Island of New Zealand. We also screened for pathogenic bacteria, fungi and parasites. RESULTS Although we did not detect any known avian diseases, which is a positive outcome for the translocated toutouwai population, we identified a number of novel viruses of interest, including a novel avian hepatovirus, as well as a divergent calici-like virus and four hepe-like viruses of which the host species is unknown. We also revealed a novel spirochete bacterium and a coccidian eukaryotic parasite. CONCLUSIONS The presumably non-pathogenic viruses and microbial species identified here support the idea that most microorganisms likely do not cause disease in their hosts, and that translocations could serve to help restore and maintain native infectious communities. We advise greater surveillance of infectious communities of both native and non-native wildlife before and after translocations to better understand the impact, positive or negative, that such movements may have on both host and infectome ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca K French
- Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
| | - Zoë L Stone
- Zoology and Ecology Group, School of Natural Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
| | - Kevin A Parker
- Parker Conservation Ltd, 549 Rocks Road, Nelson, New Zealand
| | - Edward C Holmes
- Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
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