Phylogenetic Diversity of Koala Retrovirus within a Wild Koala Population.

ABSTRACT: Koala populations are in serious decline across many areas of mainland Australia, with infectious disease a contributing factor. Koala retrovirus (KoRV) is a gammaretrovirus present in most wild koala populations and captive colonies. Five subtypes of KoRV (A to E) have been identified based on amino acid sequence divergence in a hypervariable region of the receptor binding domain of the envelope protein. However, analysis of viral genetic diversity has been conducted primarily on KoRV in captive koalas housed in zoos in Japan, the United States, and Germany. Wild koalas within Australia have not been comparably assessed. Here we report a detailed analysis of KoRV genetic diversity in samples collected from 18 wild koalas from southeast Queensland. By employing deep sequencing we identifie

SUBMITTER: Chappell KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5244342 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature