Detection and Phylogenetic Characterization of a Novel Herpesvirus in Sooty Terns Onychoprion fuscatus.

ABSTRACT: Since 2005, we have recorded annual episodes of alphaherpesvirus outbreaks in chicks of magnificent frigatebird Fregata magnificens on the Ile du Grand Connétable Nature Reserve in French Guiana. In 2009, we found sooty terns, Onychoprion fuscatus, that live sympatrically with frigatebirds, with visible clinical signs of a potential viral infection. To determine if the symptoms observed in sooty terns could be associated with an alphaherpesvirus previously identified in frigatebirds, we carried out molecular screening of samples collected from seven individuals. We identified and characterized a novel viral sequence from five birds. BLAST searches, pairwise nucleotide, and amino acid sequence comparisons, as well as phylogenetic analyses confirmed that the sequence belonged t

SUBMITTER: Sebastiano M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7493666 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature