SIVdrl detection in captive mandrills: are mandrills infected with a third strain of simian immunodeficiency virus?
A pol-fragment of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that is highly related to SIVdrl-pol from drill monkeys (Mandrillus leucophaeus) was detected in two mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) from Amsterdam Zoo. These captivity-born mandrills had never been in contact with drill monkeys, and were unlikely to be hybrids. Their mitochondrial haplotype suggested that they descended from founder animals in Cameroon or northern Gabon, close to the habitat of the drill. SIVdrl has once before been found in a wild-caught mandrill from the same region, indicating that mandrills are naturally infected with a SIVdrl-like virus. This suggests that mandrills are the first primate species to be infected with three strains of SIV: SIVmnd1, SIVmnd2, and SIVdrl.
van der Kuyl
Antoinette C
AC
Department of Human Retrovirology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 15, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.c.vanderkuyl@amc.uva.nl
van den Burg
Remco
R
Hoyer
Mark J
MJ
Gruters
Rob A
RA
Osterhaus
Albert D M E
AD
Berkhout
Ben
B
D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo; D048528:Mandrillus / Q000821:virology*; D009426:Netherlands; D016097:Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000635:transmission; D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity*