Metagenomic Survey of Viral Diversity Obtained from Feces of Subantarctic and South American Fur Seals

Abstract

The Brazilian South coast seasonally hosts numerous marine species, observed particularly during winter months. Some animals, including fur seals, are found dead or debilitated along the shore and may harbor potential pathogens within their microbiota. In the present study, a metagenomic approach was performed to evaluate the viral diversity in feces of fur seals found deceased along the coast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The fecal virome of two fur seal species was characterized: the South American fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) and the Subantarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis). Fecal samples from 10 specimens (A. australis, n = 5; A. tropicalis, n = 5) were collected and viral particles were purified, extracted and amplified with a random PCR. The products were sequenced through Ion Torrent and Illumina platforms and assembled reads were submitted to BLASTx searches. Both viromes were dominated by bacteriophages and included a number of potentially novel virus genomes. Sequences of picobirnaviruses, picornaviruses and a hepevirus-like were identified in A. australis. A rotavirus related to group C, a novel member of the Sakobuvirus and a sapovirus very similar to California sea lion sapovirus 1 were found in A. tropicalis. Additionally, sequences of members of the Anelloviridae and Parvoviridae families were detected in both fur seal species. This is the first metagenomic study to screen the fecal virome of fur seals, contributing to a better understanding of the complexity of the viral community present in the intestinal microbiota of these animals.

Viruses associated with Antarctic wildlife: From serology based detection to identification of genomes using high throughput sequencing

“…In lung samples of deceased harbor seals along the North American Pacific coast anelloviruses were identified over multiple years demonstrating the persistence of this infection in the population (Ng et al, 2011). Analyses of sub-Antarctic (Arctocephalus tropicalis) and South American fur seal (A. australis) feces also led to the identification of anellovirus sequences (Kluge et al, 2016).…”

Environmental Viral Metagenomics Analyses in Aquaculture: Applications in Epidemiology and Disease Control

“…This far, viral metagenomics studies have covered almost all the major oceans to include the Arctic (Hingamp et al, 2013; Brum et al, 2015; Sunagawa et al, 2015), Antarctic (Suttle, 2005; López-Bueno et al, 2009), sub-Antarctic (Kluge et al, 2016) pacific (Hurwitz and Sullivan, 2013), Indian (Williamson et al, 2012), and Atlantic oceans (Suttle, 2005; Tucker et al, 2011). Based on observations from these studies, the most common environmental factor shown to influence the compositions of viruses in coastal areas used for aquaculture are anthropogenic activities and ecological factors.…”

“…This virus has been show to survive up to 15 days in marine water (Smith et al, 1981). Seal poxvirus causes cutaneous lesions resembling other zoonotic parapoxvirus infections such as Orf virus in humans (Hicks and Worthy, 1987; Clark et al, 2005) while rotavirus group C which causes diarrhea in humans was recently isolated from the Antarctica sea fur using viral metagenomics (Kluge et al, 2016). Given that water is a stable medium that allows for the transmission of viruses, the shedding of zoonotic viruses in marine environments could serve as a mode of transmission to humans.…”

Epidemiology of two human protoparvoviruses, bufavirus and tusavirus

“…However, the BuV capsid proteins VP1 and VP2 share only 71–78% and 64–73% similarities at the aa level, respectively, generating three genotypes45. Tusavirus on the other hand has been described only in one child2, although partial TuV-like sequences have been detected in fur seals in Brazil6.…”

“…BuV-like viruses have been found in wild and captive non-human primates as well as in swine, shrews, rats, bats and fur seals46121314151617. The detection of these viruses in sera of rhesus monkeys in the USA, and in the spleen of wild baboons and shrews in Zambia, suggests that BuV-like viruses may cause systemic infections1213.…”