Dataset Information

Molecular Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Canine Distemper Virus in Marsican Brown Bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus).

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we report the first molecular detection of the canine distemper virus in the Marsican brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus). Three subadults and one adult were live-trapped and checked for the main viral pathogens responsible for infectious diseases in this species. The four bears were found to be negative for all investigated viruses except for one, which resulted in a positive outcome for CDV by means of RT-PCR targeting fragments of viral N and H genes. The sequence analysis revealed the specificity of amplicons for the Europe Wildlife lineage of CDV, the same viral strain recovered from three foxes and two unvaccinated dogs coming from the same territories where the positive bear was captured. These results confirm the receptivity of Marsican brown bear for CDV, apparently without any pathological consequences for the positive animal, and suggest the presence in the studied area of a unique wild host-adapted lineage of the virus, able to spread in domestic animals, too. In this respect, continuous and specifically targeted surveillance systems are necessary in order to highlight any changes in the epidemiology of the infection in the territories where the Marsican brown bear lives, along with a more effective vaccination program for domestic dogs co-existing with this endangered species.

SUBMITTER: Di Francesco CE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9311857 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Molecular Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Canine Distemper Virus in Marsican Brown Bear (<i>Ursus arctos marsicanus</i>).

Di Francesco Cristina Esmeralda CE Smoglica Camilla C Di Pirro Vincenza V Cafini Federica F Gentile Leonardo L Marsilio Fulvio F

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20220718 14

In this paper, we report the first molecular detection of the canine distemper virus in the Marsican brown bear (<i>Ursus arctos marsicanus</i>). Three subadults and one adult were live-trapped and checked for the main viral pathogens responsible for infectious diseases in this species. The four bears were found to be negative for all investigated viruses except for one, which resulted in a positive outcome for CDV by means of RT-PCR targeting fragments of viral N and H genes. The sequence analy ...[more]

PMID: 35883373

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Project description:Wild animal populations experience selection pressures from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The availability of extensive pedigrees is increasing along with our ability to quantify the heritability and evolvability of phenotypic traits and thus the speed and potential for evolutionary change in wild populations. The environment may also affect gene expressions in individuals, which may in turn affect the potential of phenotypic traits to respond to selection. Knowledge about the relationship between the genetic and environmental components of phenotypic variation is particularly relevant, given ongoing anthropogenically driven global change. Using a quantitative genetic mixed model, we disentangled the genetic and environmental components of phenotypic variance in a large carnivore, the brown bear (Ursus arctos). We combined a pedigree covering ~1,500 individual bears over seven generations with location data from 413 bears, as well as data on bear density, habitat characteristics, and climatic conditions. We found a narrow-sense heritability of 0.24 (95% CrI: 0.06-0.38) for brown bear head size, showing that the trait can respond to selection at a moderate speed. The environment contributed substantially to phenotypic variation, and we partitioned this into birth year (5.9%), nonadditive among-individual genetic (15.0%), and residual (50.4%) environmental effects. Brown bear head circumference showed an evolvability of 0.2%, which can generate large changes in the trait mean over some hundreds of generations. Our study is among the first to quantify heritability of a trait in a hunted large carnivore population. Such knowledge about the degree to which species experiencing hunting can respond to selection is crucial for conservation and to make informed management decisions. We show that including important environmental variables when analyzing heritability is key to understanding the dynamics of the evolutionary potential of phenotypic traits.

Dataset Information

Molecular Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Canine Distemper Virus in Marsican Brown Bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus).

Publications

Molecular Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Canine Distemper Virus in Marsican Brown Bear (<i>Ursus arctos marsicanus</i>).

Similar Datasets

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