Diverse inter-continental and host lineage reassortant avian influenza A viruses in pelagic seabirds.
Avian influenza A viruses (AIVs) often infect waterfowl, gulls and shorebirds, but other bird groups including pelagic seabirds also serve as hosts. In this study, we analyzed 21 AIVs found in two distant breeding colonies of Common Murre (Uria aalge) in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, during 2011. Phylogenetic analyses and genotype assignments were performed for the 21 Common Murre viruses together with all Common and Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia) AIV sequences available in public sequence databases. All fully characterized viruses from the Common Murres in 2011 were H1N2 subtype, but the genome sequences revealed greater diversity and the viruses belonged to four distinct genotypes. The four genotypes shared most segments in common, but reassortment was observed for PB2 and M segments. This provided direct genetic data of AIV diversification through segment reassortment during an outbreak of AIV infection in high-density breeding colonies. Analysis of the total collection of available murre viruses revealed a diverse collection of subtypes and gene lineages with high similarity to those found in viruses from waterfowl and gulls, and there was no indication of murre-specific AIV gene lineages. Overall, the virus gene pool in murres was predominantly made up of AIV lineages associated with waterfowl, but also featured considerable gull lineage genes and inter-continental reassortments. In particular, all but one of the 21 Common Murre viruses from 2011 in Newfoundland contained 1 or 2 Eurasian segments and 16 contained 1 gull lineage segment. This mosaic nature of characterized murre AIV genomes might reflect an under-recognized role of these pelagic seabirds in virus transmission across space and between bird host taxa.
Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X9, Canada. Electronic address: yh5700@mun.ca.
Yanyan
Y
Huang
Wildlife Research Division, Environment Canada, Mount Pearl, NL A1N 4T3, Canada. Electronic address: Greg.Robertson@EC.GC.CA.
Gregory J
GJ
Robertson
Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada. Electronic address: dojkic@uoguelph.ca.
Davor
D
Ojkic
Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources, St. John's, NL A1E 3Y5, Canada. Electronic address: hughwhitney@gov.nl.ca.
Hugh
H
Whitney
Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X9, Canada. Electronic address: aslang@mun.ca.
Andrew S
AS
Lang
D000818:Animals; D046091:Charadriiformes / Q000821:virology*; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000821:virology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016865:Reassortant Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification
Genome sequence; Murre; Reassortment; Virus transmission