title: Novel Circular Single-Stranded DNA Viruses among an Asteroid, Echinoid and Holothurian (Phylum: Echinodermata).
abstract: Echinoderms are prone to large population fluctuations that can be mediated by pervasive disease events. For the majority of echinoderm disease events the causative pathogen is unknown. Viruses have only recently been explored as potential pathogens using culture-independent techniques though little information currently exists on echinoderm viruses. In this study, ten circular ssDNA viruses were discovered in tissues among an asteroid (Asterias forbesi), an echinoid (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) and a holothurian (Parastichopus californicus) using viral metagenomics. Genome architecture and sequence similarity place these viruses among the rapidly expanding circular rep-encoding single stranded (CRESS) DNA viral group. Multiple genomes from the same tissue were no more similar in sequence identity to each other than when compared to other known CRESS DNA viruses. The results from this study are the first to describe a virus from a holothurian and continue to show the ubiquity of these viruses among aquatic invertebrates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Elliot W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kalia S I
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Bistolas
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jason B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Button
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hewson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004270:DNA, Circular; D004279:DNA, Viral; D004447:Echinodermata / Q000821:virology*; D005814:Genes, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D054892:Metagenome; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004270:DNA, Circular; D004279:DNA, Viral