title: High global diversity of cycloviruses amongst dragonflies.
abstract: Members of the family Circoviridae, specifically the genus Circovirus, were thought to infect only vertebrates; however, members of a sister group under the same family, the proposed genus Cyclovirus, have been detected recently in insects. In an effort to explore the diversity of cycloviruses and better understand the evolution of these novel ssDNA viruses, here we present five cycloviruses isolated from three dragonfly species (Orthetrum sabina, Xanthocnemis zealandica and Rhionaeschna multicolor) collected in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, respectively. The genomes of these five viruses share similar genome structure to other cycloviruses, with a circular ~1.7 kb genome and two major bidirectionally transcribed ORFs. The genomic sequence data gathered during this study were combined with all cyclovirus genomes available in public databases to identify conserved motifs and regulatory elements in the intergenic regions, as well as determine diversity and recombinant regions within their genomes. The genomes reported here represent four different cyclovirus species, three of which are novel. Our results confirm that cycloviruses circulate widely in winged-insect populations; in eight different cyclovirus species identified in dragonflies to date, some of these exhibit a broad geographical distribution. Recombination analysis revealed both intra- and inter-species recombination events amongst cycloviruses, including genomes recovered from disparate sources (e.g. goat meat and human faeces). Similar to other well-characterized circular ssDNA viruses, recombination may play an important role in cyclovirus evolution.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Anisha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dayaram
authors.affiliation: School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
authors.forename: Angela B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Moline
authors.affiliation: School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, 1009 E South Campus Drive, Tucson, AZ 85721-0030, USA.
authors.forename: Dana Drake
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Rosenstein
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Milen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marinov
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Ecosciences Precinct, GPO Box 267, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia.|Centre for Plant Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Ecosciences Precinct, GPO Box 247, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St Petersburg, FL 33701, USA.
authors.forename: Mya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Breitbart
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St Petersburg, FL 33701, USA.
authors.forename: Karyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rosario
authors.affiliation: División de Biología Molecular, Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Camino a la Presa San José 2055, 78216 San Luis Potosí, S.L.P., Mexico.
authors.forename: Gerardo R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Argüello-Astorga
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscope Unit, Division of Medical Biochemistry, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, University of Cape Town, Observatory 7700, South Africa.|Biomolecular Interaction Centre, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.|School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varsani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D018136:Circoviridae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004270:DNA, Circular / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009520:New Zealand; D063191:Odonata / Q000821:virology*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D004270:DNA, Circular; D004279:DNA, Viral