Metatranscriptomic Analysis of Virus Diversity in Urban Wild Birds with Paretic Disease.

ABSTRACT: Wild birds are major natural reservoirs and potential dispersers of a variety of infectious diseases. As such, it is important to determine the diversity of viruses they carry and use this information to help understand the potential risks of spillover to humans, domestic animals, and other wildlife. We investigated the potential viral causes of paresis in long-standing, but undiagnosed, disease syndromes in wild Australian birds. RNA from diseased birds was extracted and pooled based on tissue type, host species, and clinical manifestation for metagenomic sequencing. Using a bulk and unbiased metatranscriptomic approach, combined with clinical investigation and histopathology, we identified a number of novel viruses from the families Astroviridae, Adenoviridae, Picornaviridae, Polyomav

SUBMITTER: Chang WS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7459558 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature