Noninvasive Detection of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in a Wild-Living L'Hoest's Monkey (Cercopithecus lhoesti)

Abstract

L'Hoest's monkey's (Cercopithecus Ihoesti) are believed to be naturally infected with a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), termed SIVIho, but only a handful of isolates, all derived from captive animals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR), have thus far been characterized. Here, we report the noninvasive detection and molecular characterization of SIVIho in a wild L'Hoest's monkey from the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda. Screening four L'Hoest's monkey fecal samples collected opportunistically as part of a larger noninvasive survey of SIV prevalence in Nyungwe National Park we identified one to be vRNA positive. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of a subgenomic pol fragment (598 bp) identified a new SIVIho strain (RW30) that differed from previously reported SIVIho isolates in 17-22% of its nucleotide sequence. In a phylogenic tree of partial Pol protein sequences, RW30 fell well within the SIVIho radiation, but was not particularly closely related to any of the other strains. These results provide the first direct evidence that L'Hoewst's monkeys harbor SIVIho in the wild, that infection is prevalent in different areas of the species' habitat, and that geographically diverse SIVIho strains cluster in a single group according to their species of origin. L'Hoest's monkeys represent the third primate species for which the utility of noninvasive SIV testing has been documented.

Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection of Chimpanzees

“…Noninvasive testing of chimpanzee fecal and urine samples for virus-specific antibodies and nucleic acids thus made possible, for the first time, field studies of SIVcpz prevalence and molecular epidemiology (72,73,75,93) and has even been extended to SIV detection in other primate species (43,74). The first SIVcpz-infected wild-living chimpanzee (P. t. schweinfurthii) was identified in Gombe National Park (72), which in turn led to additional surveys of resident communities in this same area (Fig.…”

Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Free-Ranging Sooty Mangabeys ( Cercocebus atys atys ) from the Taï Forest, Côte d'Ivoire: Implications for the Origin of Epidemic Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2

“…Total RNA was extracted from RNAlater-preserved fecal specimens using the RNAqueous MidiKit (Ambion; Austin, TX) as previously described (63)(64)(65). Briefly, ϳ1 ml of the 1:1 stool-RNAlater suspension was mixed with 6 ml of lysis buffer, clarified by centrifugation, and passed through a nucleic acid-binding filter.…”

Origin and Biology of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus in Wild-Living Western Gorillas

“…For sample BQ664, only gag (1,126 bp) and vif-env (963 bp) sequences were amplified. Reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) analysis was performed as described previously (33,51,52,65,71), with some modifications. For CP684, 10 l of RNA was first incubated with 40 pmol of the outer reverse primer (1 l) for 10 min at 65°C, rapidly cooled on ice, and then added to the remaining components in a 20-l reaction volume containing 1ϫ Expand reverse transcriptase buffer, 1 mM deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP), 5 mM dithiothreitol, 1 unit (U)/l RNase inhibitor (Ambion, Austin, TX), and 2.5 U/l Expand reverse transcriptase (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN).…”

“…Until recently, SIV cross-species transmissions could be detected only by analyzing blood samples coincident with the capture or killing of primates (10,32,73). However, the development of noninvasive viral detection methods has transformed the way infectious agents, including SIV, can be studied in wild-living primate populations (33,38,(51)(52)(53)(54)70). For example, systematic testing of fecal samples from wild-living chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) for viral nucleic acids and antibodies traced the origin of pandemic (group M) and nonpandemic (group N) human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) to distinct chimpanzee communities in south-central and southeastern Cameroon, respectively (33).…”