Genome Analyses of Ten New Ape Adenoviruses with Similarity to Human Mastadenovirus C

Abstract

The adenoviruses (AdVs) isolated from humans are taxonomically grouped in seven different species in the Mastadenovirus genus (HAdV-A through G). AdVs isolated from apes are often included in one of the human AdV species. Here we describe the sequence analyses of ten new AdVs that are related to the HAdV-C species and that were isolated from healthy western lowland gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees, and orangutans kept in Dutch zoos. We analyzed these viruses and compared their genome sequences to those of human- and ape-derived AdV sequences in the NCBI GenBank database. Our data demonstrated that the ape-derived viruses clustering to HAdV-C are markedly distinct from the human HAdV-C species in the size and nucleotide composition (%GC) of their genome, differ in the amino-acid sequence of AdV proteins, and have longer RGD-loops in their penton-base proteins. The viruses form three well-separated clades (the human, the gorilla, and the combined group of the bonobo and chimpanzee viruses), and we propose that these should each be given species-level ranks. The Ad-lumc005 AdV isolated from orangutans was found to be very similar to the gorilla AdVs, and bootstrap inference provided evidence of recombination between the orangutan AdV and the gorilla AdVs. This suggests that this virus may not be a genuine orangutan AdV but may have been transferred from a gorilla to an orangutan host.

Detection and Molecular Characterization of Adenoviruses in Captive and Free-Roaming African Green Monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus): Evidence for Possible Recombination and Cross-Species Transmission

“…Taken together, our observations corroborated the hypothesis that the evolutionary pathways of HAdVs and SAdVs are intermingled, complicated by recombination and inter-species transmission events, especially between related AdV species, such as HAdV-F and SAdV-F [3,[14][15][16][17][18][19]23,24,46]. The pathogenic potential of SAdV-F in NHPs (and humans) remains to be elucidated [17,[45][46][47][48][49], whilst HAdV-F (HAdV-40 and -41) has been recognized as one of the leading global causes of viral diarrhea and deaths in young of humans, and HAdV-F-41 has been associated with severe pediatric hepatitis [51].…”

“…The pathogenic potential of SAdV-F in NHPs (and humans) remains to be elucidated [ 17 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ], whilst HAdV-F (HAdV-40 and -41) has been recognized as one of the leading global causes of viral diarrhea and deaths in young of humans, and HAdV-F-41 has been associated with severe pediatric hepatitis [ 51 ]. Therefore, (i) the present findings, (ii) several other observations that support zoonotic and anthroponotic transmission of SAdVs and HAdVs [ 3 , 9 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], and (iii) the threat of possible emergence of novel, virulent pathogens derived from recombination events involving HAdVs and SAdVs [ 3 , 14 , 15 , 22 , 52 ], underscore the importance of One-Health-based studies aimed at detection and molecular characterization of AdVs circulating in human and NHP populations, with implications on public health and animal health.…”

“…On the other hand, the intermingled phylogenetic clustering patterns of SAdVs and HAdVs underscore the significant zoonotic and anthroponotic potential of AdVs, which in conjunction with the (i) wide distribution of AdVs in NHP and human populations, (ii) increased exposure of humans to NHPs and vice versa due to anthropogenic events, and (iii) evidence for recombination events between HAdVs and SAdVs (that might result in emergence of novel, more virulent AdV strains) raises public health concerns [ 1 , 3 , 9 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 22 ]. To date, there are several examples, supported by genomic, serological, and/or clinical evidence, that indicate possible AdV cross-species transmission events between humans and NHPs, including a single instance of human-to-human transmission of NHP-derived AdVs [ 3 , 9 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”