title: Exploring the virome of diseased horses.
abstract: Metagenomics was used to characterize viral genomes in clinical specimens of horses with various organ-specific diseases of unknown aetiology. A novel parvovirus as well as a previously described hepacivirus closely related to human hepatitis C virus and equid herpesvirus 2 were identified in the cerebrospinal fluid of horses with neurological signs. Four co-infecting picobirnaviruses, including an unusual genome with fused RNA segments, and a divergent anellovirus were found in the plasma of two febrile horses. A novel cyclovirus genome was characterized from the nasal secretion of another febrile animal. Lastly, a small circular DNA genome with a Rep gene, from a virus we called kirkovirus, was identified in the liver and spleen of a horse with fatal idiopathic hepatopathy. This study expands the number of viruses found in horses, and characterizes their genomes to assist future epidemiological studies of their transmission and potential association with various equine diseases.
authors.affiliation: Blood Systems Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Linlin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.|Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.|Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, La Estanzuela, Colonia, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giannitti
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Low
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Casey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Keyes
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UNESP Sao Paulo State University, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leila S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Ullmann
authors.affiliation: Blood Systems Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Xutao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aleman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pesavento
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pusterla
authors.affiliation: Blood Systems Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delwart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D056186:Metagenomics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology*; D014780:Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*