A Novel Orthohepadnavirus Identified in a Dead Maxwell's Duiker (Philantomba maxwellii) in Tai National Park, Cote d'Ivoire.

ABSTRACT: New technologies enable viral discovery in a diversity of hosts, providing insights into viral evolution. We used one such approach, the virome capture sequencing for vertebrate viruses (VirCapSeq-VERT) platform, on 21 samples originating from six dead Maxwell's duikers (Philantomba maxwellii) from Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire. We detected the presence of an orthohepadnavirus in one animal and characterized its 3128 bp genome. The highest viral copy numbers were detected in the spleen, followed by the lung, blood, and liver, with the lowest copy numbers in the kidney and heart; the virus was not detected in the jejunum. Viral copy numbers in the blood were in the range known from humans with active chronic infections leading to liver histolytic damage, suggesting this virus could be pa

SUBMITTER: Gogarten JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6466360 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature