Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears (<i>Ursus maritimus</i>) during a period of rapid climate change.

ABSTRACT: Climate change affects the behavior, physiology and life history of many Arctic wildlife species. It can also influence the distribution and ecology of infectious agents. The southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) has experienced dramatic behavioral changes due to retreating sea ice and other climate-related factors, but the effects of these changes on physiology and infection remain poorly understood. Using serum from polar bears sampled between 2004 and 2015 and metagenomic DNA sequencing, we identified 48 viruses, all of the family Anelloviridae. Anelloviruses are small, ubiquitous infectious agents with circular single-stranded DNA genomes that are not known to cause disease but, in humans, covary in diversity and load with immunological

SUBMITTER: Fry TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10375943 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature