Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
7.1
4.7
Journals
Viruses
Special Issues
Identifying and Characterizing Viral Infections in Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish and...
share announcement

Identifying and Characterizing Viral Infections in Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish and Other Aquatic Species

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 3539

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Robert J. Ossiboff

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Comparative Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Interests: amphibian and reptile virus discovery; pathology of infectious diseases of aquatic, amphibian, and reptile species; molecular diagnostic test development for zoo, exotic, wildlife species; cell line establishment and characterization of zoo, exotic, and wildlife species; reptile virus isolation and characterization
Dr. Kuttichantran Subramaniam

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Interests: aquatic animal health; virus discovery using next-generation sequencing and metagenomic analysis; development of improved diagnostic methodologies to detect viruses

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Identifying and characterizing viruses capable of infecting historically overlooked species, including reptiles (snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, and crocodilians), amphibians (frogs, salamanders, and caecilians), bony fishes, elasmobranchs (sharks and rays), and other vertebrate and invertebrate aquatic animals, constitute a rapidly growing sector of basic, translational, and clinical science research. Such advances have been made possible by the increased access and decreased cost of metagenomic analyses, increased access to samples and diverse reagents, and a recognized need for disease studies given the effect such pathogens can have on individual, population, and ecosystem health. This Special Issue will highlight the most current advances in the field, aiming to demonstrate the significance such viruses can have on animal health, either directly or indirectly.

Dr. Robert J. Ossiboff
Dr. Kuttichantran Subramaniam
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • reptile virus
  • amphibian virus
  • fish virus
  • aquatic virus
  • virus discovery
  • virus characterization
  • virus genomics

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 671 KiB  
Article
Delving into the Aftermath of a Disease-Associated Near-Extinction Event: A Five-Year Study of a Serpentovirus (Nidovirus) in a Critically Endangered Turtle Population
by Kate Parrish, Peter Kirkland, Paul Horwood, Bruce Chessman, Shane Ruming, Gerry McGilvray, Karrie Rose, Jane Hall and Lee Skerratt
Viruses 2024, 16(4), 653; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16040653 - 22 Apr 2024
Viewed by 221
Abstract
Bellinger River virus (BRV) is a serpentovirus (nidovirus) that was likely responsible for the catastrophic mortality of the Australian freshwater turtle Myuchelys georgesi in February 2015. From November 2015 to November 2020, swabs were collected from turtles during repeated river surveys to estimate [...] Read more.
Bellinger River virus (BRV) is a serpentovirus (nidovirus) that was likely responsible for the catastrophic mortality of the Australian freshwater turtle Myuchelys georgesi in February 2015. From November 2015 to November 2020, swabs were collected from turtles during repeated river surveys to estimate the prevalence of BRV RNA, identify risk factors associated with BRV infection, and refine sample collection. BRV RNA prevalence at first capture was significantly higher in M. georgesi (10.8%) than in a coexisting turtle, Emydura macquarii (1.0%). For M. georgesi, various risk factors were identified depending on the analysis method, but a positive BRV result was consistently associated with a larger body size. All turtles were asymptomatic when sampled and conjunctival swabs were inferred to be optimal for ongoing monitoring. Although the absence of disease and recent BRV detections suggests a reduced ongoing threat, the potential for the virus to persist in an endemic focus or resurge in cyclical epidemics cannot be excluded. Therefore, BRV is an ongoing potential threat to the conservation of M. georgesi, and strict adherence to biosecurity principles is essential to minimise the risk of reintroduction or spread of BRV or other pathogens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Identifying and Characterizing Viral Infections in Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish and Other Aquatic Species)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 4654 KiB  
Article
Serpentoviruses Exhibit Diverse Organization and ORF Composition with Evidence of Recombination
by Steven B. Tillis, Robert J. Ossiboff and James F. X. Wellehan, Jr.
Viruses 2024, 16(2), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16020310 - 18 Feb 2024
Viewed by 970
Abstract
Serpentoviruses are a subfamily of positive sense RNA viruses in the order Nidovirales, family Tobaniviridae, associated with respiratory disease in multiple clades of reptiles. While the broadest viral diversity is reported from captive pythons, other reptiles, including colubrid snakes, turtles, and lizards [...] Read more.
Serpentoviruses are a subfamily of positive sense RNA viruses in the order Nidovirales, family Tobaniviridae, associated with respiratory disease in multiple clades of reptiles. While the broadest viral diversity is reported from captive pythons, other reptiles, including colubrid snakes, turtles, and lizards of captive and free-ranging origin are also known hosts. To better define serpentoviral diversity, eleven novel serpentovirus genomes were sequenced with an Illumina MiSeq and, when necessary, completed with other Sanger sequencing methods. The novel serpentoviral genomes, along with 57 other previously published serpentovirus genomes, were analyzed alongside four outgroup genomes. Genomic analyses included identifying unique genome templates for each serpentovirus clade, as well as analysis of coded protein composition, potential protein function, protein glycosylation sites, differences in phylogenetic history between open-reading frames, and recombination. Serpentoviral genomes contained diverse protein compositions. In addition to the fundamental structural spike, matrix, and nucleoprotein proteins required for virion formation, serpentovirus genomes also included 20 previously uncharacterized proteins. The uncharacterized proteins were homologous to a number of previously characterized proteins, including enzymes, transcription factors, scaffolding, viral resistance, and apoptosis-related proteins. Evidence for recombination was detected in multiple instances in genomes from both captive and free-ranging snakes. These results show serpentovirus as a diverse clade of viruses with genomes that code for a wide diversity of proteins potentially enhanced by recombination events. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Identifying and Characterizing Viral Infections in Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish and Other Aquatic Species)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1932 KiB  
Article
Features of SARS-CoV-2 Replication in Various Types of Reptilian and Fish Cell Cultures
by Yulia Kononova, Lyubov Adamenko, Evgeniya Kazachkova, Mariya Solomatina, Svetlana Romanenko, Anastasia Proskuryakova, Yaroslav Utkin, Marina Gulyaeva, Anastasia Spirina, Elena Kazachinskaia, Natalia Palyanova, Oksana Mishchenko, Alexander Chepurnov and Alexander Shestopalov
Viruses 2023, 15(12), 2350; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15122350 - 29 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1122
Abstract
Background: SARS-CoV-2 can enter the environment from the feces of COVID-19 patients and virus carriers through untreated sewage. The virus has shown the ability to adapt to a wide range of hosts, so the question of the possible involvement of aquafauna and animals [...] Read more.
Background: SARS-CoV-2 can enter the environment from the feces of COVID-19 patients and virus carriers through untreated sewage. The virus has shown the ability to adapt to a wide range of hosts, so the question of the possible involvement of aquafauna and animals of coastal ecosystems in maintaining its circulation remains open. Methods: the aim of this work was to study the tropism of SARS-CoV-2 for cells of freshwater fish and reptiles, including those associated with aquatic and coastal ecosystems, and the effect of ambient temperature on this process. In a continuous cell culture FHM (fathead minnow) and diploid fibroblasts CGIB (silver carp), SARS-CoV-2 replication was not maintained at either 25 °C or 29 °C. At 29 °C, the continuous cell culture TH-1 (eastern box turtle) showed high susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, comparable to Vero E6 (development of virus-induced cytopathic effect (CPE) and an infectious titer of 7.5 ± 0.17 log10 TCID50/mL on day 3 after infection), and primary fibroblasts CNI (Nile crocodile embryo) showed moderate susceptibility (no CPE, infectious titer 4.52 ± 0.14 log10 TCID50/mL on day 5 after infection). At 25 °C, SARS-CoV-2 infection did not develop in TH-1 and CNI. Conclusions: our results show the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to effectively replicate without adaptation in the cells of certain reptile species when the ambient temperature rises. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Identifying and Characterizing Viral Infections in Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish and Other Aquatic Species)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 2040 KiB  
Article
A Multiplex RT-PCR Method for the Detection of Reptarenavirus Infection
by Francesca Baggio, Udo Hetzel, Barbara Prähauser, Eva Dervas, Eleni Michalopoulou, Tanja Thiele, Anja Kipar and Jussi Hepojoki
Viruses 2023, 15(12), 2313; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15122313 - 25 Nov 2023
Viewed by 778
Abstract
Reptarenaviruses cause Boid Inclusion Body Disease (BIBD), a fatal disease of boid snakes with an economic and ecological impact, as it affects both captive and wild constrictor snakes. The clinical picture of BIBD is highly variable but often only limited. Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies [...] Read more.
Reptarenaviruses cause Boid Inclusion Body Disease (BIBD), a fatal disease of boid snakes with an economic and ecological impact, as it affects both captive and wild constrictor snakes. The clinical picture of BIBD is highly variable but often only limited. Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies (IB), which develop in most cell types including blood cells, are the pathognomonic hallmark of BIBD; their detection represents the diagnostic gold standard of the disease. However, IBs are not consistently present in clinically healthy reptarenavirus carriers, which can, if undetected, lead to and maintain the spread of the disease within and between snake populations. Sensitive viral detection tools are required for screening and control purposes; however, the genetic diversity of reptarenaviruses hampers the reverse transcription (RT) PCR-based diagnostics. Here, we describe a multiplex RT-PCR approach for the molecular diagnosis of reptarenavirus infection in blood samples. The method allows the detection of a wide range of reptarenaviruses with the detection limit reaching 40 copies per microliter of blood. Using 245 blood samples with a reference RT-PCR result, we show that the technique performs as well as the segment-specific RT-PCRs in our earlier studies. It can identify virus carriers and serve to limit reptarenavirus spreading in captive snake collections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Identifying and Characterizing Viral Infections in Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish and Other Aquatic Species)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop