title: Chicken skin virome analyzed by high-throughput sequencing shows a composition highly different from human skin.
abstract: Recent studies show that human skin at homeostasis is a complex ecosystem whose virome include circular DNA viruses, especially papillomaviruses and polyomaviruses. To determine the chicken skin virome in comparison with human skin virome, a chicken swabs pool sample from fifteen indoor healthy chickens of five genetic backgrounds was examined for the presence of DNA viruses by high-throughput sequencing (HTS). The results indicate a predominance of herpesviruses from the Mardivirus genus, coming from either vaccinal origin or presumably asymptomatic infection. Despite the high sensitivity of the HTS method used herein to detect small circular DNA viruses, we did not detect any papillomaviruses, polyomaviruses, or circoviruses, indicating that these viruses may not be resident of the chicken skin. The results suggest that the turkey herpesvirus is a resident of chicken skin in vaccinated chickens. This study indicates major differences between the skin viromes of chickens and humans. The origin of this difference remains to be further studied in relation with skin physiology, environment, or virus population dynamics.
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR1282, Infectious Diseases and Public Health, ISP, BIOlogy of Avian Viruses Team, 37380, Nouzilly, France. denesvre@tours.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denesvre
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Biology of Infection Unit, Inserm U1117, Pathogen Discovery Laboratory, 75015, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dumarest
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR1282, Infectious Diseases and Public Health, ISP, BIOlogy of Avian Viruses Team, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rémy
authors.affiliation: INRA, Pôle d'expérimentation avicole de Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gourichon
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Biology of Infection Unit, Inserm U1117, Pathogen Discovery Laboratory, 75015, Paris, France. marc.eloit@pasteur.fr.|PathoQuest, Paris, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75015, Paris, France. marc.eloit@pasteur.fr.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eloit
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002645:Chickens; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D012867:Skin / Q000821:virology*
keywords: Chicken; DNA viruses; Herpesviruses; Metagenomics; Skin