title: Phylogeny of beak and feather disease virus in cockatoos demonstrates host generalism and multiple-variant infections within Psittaciformes.
abstract: Phylogenetic analyses of the highly genetically diverse but antigenically conserved, single-stranded circular, DNA genome of the avian circovirus, beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) from cockatoo species throughout Australia demonstrated a high mutation rate for BFDV (orders of magnitude fall in the range of 10(-4) substitutions/site/year) along with strong support for recombination indicating active cross-species transmission in various subpopulations. Multiple variants of BFDV were demonstrated with at least 30 genotypic variants identified within nine individual birds, with one containing up to 7 variants. Single genetic variants were detected in feathers from 2 birds but splenic tissue provided further variants. The rich BFDV genetic diversity points to Australasia as the most likely geographical origin of this virus and supports flexible host switching. We propose this as evidence of Order-wide host generalism in the Psittaciformes characterised by high mutability that is buffered by frequent recombination and slow replication strategy.
authors.affiliation: School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia; Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia. Electronic address: ssarker@csu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Subir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarker
authors.affiliation: School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia; Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia. Electronic address: aghorashi@csu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Seyed A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ghorashi
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia; Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia. Electronic address: jforwood@csu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jade K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Forwood
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Biomedical Science, Faculty of Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Australia. Electronic address: stephen.bent@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bent
authors.affiliation: School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia; Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia. Electronic address: apeters@csu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia; Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia. Electronic address: shraidal@csu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Shane R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Raidal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D018173:Circoviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D017925:Circovirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D046410:Cockatoos / Q000821:virology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D058507:Host Specificity; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011563:Psittaciformes / Q000145:classification / Q000821:virology*; D014779:Virus Replication
keywords: Circovirus; Host generalism; Host switching; Multiple-variants; Mutation rate; Psittacine beak and feather disease; Viral recombination; viral quasispecies