Detection and Genetic Analysis of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIVple) in Southern African Lions (Panthera leo)

Abstract

Feline immunodeficiency virus is a retrovirus of domestic cats that causes immunosuppressive disease and lifelong infection. Lentivirus has also been detected in African lions (Panthera leo). The lentivirus infecting lions in southern Africa has never been isolated; thus, knowledge about its molecular characteristics in these populations is limited. Our investigation used whole blood samples collected opportunistically from free-ranging southern African lions in Kruger National Park, South Africa, and from Hlane Royal National Park in Swaziland to analyse the lentivirus. Whole blood samples from captive exotic felids from zoos in South Africa and the United States, and from domestic cats in South Africa were analysed for comparison. A nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used to amplify a portion of the proviral DNA encoding the reverse transcriptase. The nucleotide sequence of all products was determined and examined. The PCR assay was successful in amplifying lion lentivirus, with 52 positive and 65 negative samples. Of the 34 sequences amplified from a variety of felids, six showed an average of 96% homology to domestic feline lentivirus, and 28 showed an average of 94% homology to lion lentivirus. In addition, domestic cat lentivirus nucleic acid was amplified from a captive tiger, demonstrating the possibility of cross-species transmission.

Viruses as indicators of contemporary host dispersal and phylogeography: an example of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIVPle) in free‐ranging African lion (Panthera leo)

“…In the present study, FIV Ple subtype E circulates only within the northern KNP lion population [a region geographically closest to Botswana where this subtype is more common (Fig. ) (Antunes et al ., ; Adams et al ., )]. The genetic distinction between the northern and southern lion individuals is further supported by the high genetic divergence of FIV (21.16 ± 2.26%; Fig.…”

“…FIV Ple subtype B is known to occur in Tanzania and Uganda, whereas FIV Ple subtype C is currently only known to occur in Tanzania and FIV Ple subtype F only in Kenya (Brown et al, 1994;Troyer et al, 2005;Antunes et al, 2008). In South Africa, geographically localized FIV Ple subtype D is most prominent (Troyer et al, 2005;Antunes et al, 2008;Adams et al, 2011). Until recently, FIV Ple subtype E had only been documented from Botswana, but has since been detected in South African lions as well (Troyer et al, 2005;Antunes et al, 2008;Adams et al, 2011).…”

“…In South Africa, geographically localized FIV Ple subtype D is most prominent (Troyer et al, 2005;Antunes et al, 2008;Adams et al, 2011). Until recently, FIV Ple subtype E had only been documented from Botswana, but has since been detected in South African lions as well (Troyer et al, 2005;Antunes et al, 2008;Adams et al, 2011). Given this broadscale phylogeographic pattern detected in African lions (Barnett et al, 2014;Bertola et al, 2016), coupled with previous findings in other felid species (Biek et al, 2003(Biek et al, , 2006Lee et al, 2012), we predict that large-scale sampling of FIV Ple (approximately 10%-12% of the KNP lion population) in a smaller geographic region could provide more fine-scale resolution into regional population structuring (also see Troyer et al (2005)).…”

Evaluating the Diversity of the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV): A Leopard Perspective

“…S1; Table S1 -Supplementary Material). Noticeable differences between the updated FIV pol-RT reference dataset and the one used by Troyer et al (2005) is the inclusion of FIV Ple subtype E sequences isolated by Adams, van Vuuren, Bosman, Kania, and Kennedy (2011), six FIV Lru sequences isolated from bobcats , one previously published leopard (FIV Ppa ) sequence and seven novel FIV Ppa sequences isolated from South African leopards from the KNP as found herein. In the present dataset, it was decided to exclude the FIV Ccr sequences isolated from spotted hyena to limit missing data (the FIV Ccr sequences in GenBank are <350bp).…”

“…S1-Supplementary Material). For well-studied species such as the domestic cat, African lion, bobcat and puma there is an abundance of FIV pol-RT sequences of variable lengths Talbott et al, 1989;Phillips et al, 1990;Langley et al, 1994;Sodora et al, 1995;de Rozieres et al, 2004;Troyer et al, 2005;Poss et al, 2006;Adams et al, 2011;, while for the less well-studied species such as leopard, cheetah, Pallas cat, ocelot, jaguarundi, snow leopard and spotted hyena there are few FIV pol-RT sequences and the fragment length is generally short Troyer et al, 2005;. Final sequence selection was therefore determined by the shortest sequences and the final alignment was less than 400bp.…”