title: Discovery of herpesviruses in Canadian wildlife.
abstract: Herpesviruses (HVs) have a wide range of hosts in the animal kingdom. The result of infection with HVs can vary from asymptomatic to fatal diseases depending on subtype, strain, and host. To date, little is known about HVs naturally circulating in wildlife species and the impact of these viruses on other species. In our study, we used genetic and comparative approaches to increase our understanding of circulating HVs in Canadian wildlife. Using nested polymerase chain reaction targeting a conserved region of the HV DNA polymerase gene, we analyzed material derived from wildlife of western and northern Canada collected between February 2009 and Sept 2014. For classification of new virus sequences, we compared our viral sequences with published sequences in GenBank to identify conserved residues and motifs that are unique to each subfamily, alongside phylogenetic analysis. All alphaherpesviruses shared a conserved tryptophan (W856) and tyrosine (Y880), betaherpesviruses all shared a serine (S836), and gammaherpesviruses had a conserved glutamic acid (E835). Most of our wildlife HV sequences grouped together with HVs from taxonomically related host species. From Martes americana, we detected previously uncharacterized alpha- and beta-herpesviruses.
authors: Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada. csdalton@ucalgary.ca.
authors: Chimoné S
authors: CS
authors: Dalton
authors: Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada.
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: van de Rakt
authors: Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7054, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors: Åsa
authors: Å
authors: Fahlman
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors: Kathreen
authors: K
authors: Ruckstuhl
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Neuhaus
authors: Environment and natural Resources Sahtú Region, P.O. Box 130, Norman Wells, NT, X0E 0V0, Canada.
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Popko
authors: Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada.|Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Alberta Node, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 11877 85th Street NW, Calgary, AB, T3R 1J3, Canada.
authors: Susan
authors: S
authors: Kutz
authors: Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada.
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: van der Meer
mesh_terms: D018138:Alphaherpesvirinae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000821:virology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D018141:Betaherpesvirinae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002170:Canada; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018142:Gammaherpesvirinae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015870:Gene Expression; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase