title: Metagenomic analysis of viromes of dromedary camel fecal samples reveals large number and high diversity of circoviruses and picobirnaviruses.
abstract: The recent discovery of Middle East Respiratory Coronavirus and another novel dromedary camel coronavirus UAE-HKU23 in dromedaries has boosted interest in search of novel viruses in dromedaries. In this study, fecal samples of 203 dromedaries in Dubai were pooled and deep sequenced. Among the 7330 assembled viral contigs, 1970 were assigned to mammalian viruses. The largest groups of these contigs matched to Picobirnaviridae, Circoviridae, Picornaviridae, Parvoviridae, Astroviridae and Hepeviridae. Many of these viral families were previously unknown to dromedaries. In addition to the high abundance of contigs from Circoviridae (n=598 with 14 complete genomes) and Picobirnaviridae (n=1236), a high diversity of contigs from these two families was found, with the 14 Circoviridae complete genomes forming at least five clusters and contigs from both genogroup I and genogroup II potentially novel picobirnaviruses. Further studies comparing the incidence of these viral families in healthy and sick dromedaries will reveal their pathogenic potential.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Research Centre of Infection and Immunology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Carol Yu Centre for Infection, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: pcywoo@hkucc.hku.hk.
authors.forename: Patrick C Y
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Research Centre of Infection and Immunology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Carol Yu Centre for Infection, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Susanna K P
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Jade L L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Alan K L
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Tsang
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Emily Y M
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Saritha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sivakumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Ru
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Renate
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wernery
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address: cvrl@cvrl.ae.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wernery
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Research Centre of Infection and Immunology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Carol Yu Centre for Infection, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Kwok-Yung
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Yuen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002162:Camelus; D017925:Circovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D056186:Metagenomics; D010802:Phylogeny; D018708:Picobirnavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
keywords: Dromedary camel; Metagenomic analysis; Novel virus