title: Characterization of phylogenetically diverse astroviruses of marine mammals.
abstract: Astroviruses are small, non-enveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses. Previously studied mammalian astroviruses have been associated with diarrhoeal disease. Knowledge of astrovirus diversity is very limited, with only six officially recognized astrovirus species from mammalian hosts and, in addition, one human and some bat astroviruses were recently described. We used consensus PCR techniques for initial identification of five astroviruses of marine mammals: three from California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), one from a Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) and one from a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Bayesian and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis found that these viruses showed significant diversity at a level consistent with novel species. Astroviruses that we identified from marine mammals were found across the mamastrovirus tree and did not form a monophyletic group. Recombination analysis found that a recombination event may have occurred between a human and a California sea lion astrovirus, suggesting that both lineages may have been capable of infecting the same host at one point. The diversity found amongst marine mammal astroviruses and their similarity to terrestrial astroviruses suggests that the marine environment plays an important role in astrovirus ecology.
authors.affiliation: Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, San Diego, CA 92109, USA. Rrivera@hswri.org
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.forename: Hendrik H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Nollens
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Venn-Watson
authors.forename: Frances M D
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Gulland
authors.forename: James F X
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wellehan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019350:Astroviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D050681:Bottle-Nosed Dolphin / Q000821:virology; D002335:Carnivora / Q000821:virology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D014644:Genetic Variation; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D046070:Sea Lions / Q000821:virology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral