Novel herpesvirus in the critically endangered Galapagos pink land iguana.

Autor: Nieto-Claudín A; Charles Darwin Foundation. Charles Darwin Avenue, Santa Cruz 200350, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador; Saint Louis Institute for Conservation Medicine, One Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63110, United States. Electronic address: ainoa.nieto@fcdarwin.org.ec., Sacristán C; Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), CSIC, Valdeolmos 28130, Spain. Electronic address: carlos.sacristan@inia.csic.es., Deem SL; Charles Darwin Foundation. Charles Darwin Avenue, Santa Cruz 200350, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador; Saint Louis Institute for Conservation Medicine, One Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63110, United States., Lewbart GA; North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, 1060 William Moore Drive, Raleigh, NC 27607, United States; Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) & UNC-Chapel Hill Galápagos Science Center (GSC), Av. Alsacio Northia, San Cristobal 200150, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador., Colosimo G; Department of Biology, Tor Vergata University, Rome 00133, Italy., Esperón F; Veterinary Department, School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón 28670, Spain., Sevilla C; Galapagos National Park Directorate, Santa Cruz 200350, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador., Gentile G; Department of Biology, Tor Vergata University, Rome 00133, Italy.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Acta tropica [Acta Trop] 2024 Apr; Vol. 252, pp. 107127. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 03.
DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107127
Abstrakt: Virus surveillance in wildlife is important to understanding ecosystem health, taxonomy, and evolution. Nevertheless, viruses in reptiles, and specifically in squamates, continue to be understudied. Herein, we conducted a health assessment on the critically endangered Galapagos pink land iguana (Conolophus marthae) and the vulnerable Galapagos land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus). We collected oral and/or cloacal swabs from 47 clinically healthy iguanas and tested for adenovirus (cloacal swabs, n = 47) and herpesvirus (oral swabs, n = 45) using broad-spectrum PCRs. Two out of 38 (5.3 %) Galapagos pink land iguanas tested positive for herpesvirus, while no herpesvirus was detected in all Galapagos land iguanas (n = 7). Both herpesviral sequences were identical between them and divergent (61.9 % amino acid identity) when compared to the closest herpesvirus sequences available in GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ. The genetic distance between this and other herpesviruses is consistent with its classification as a novel virus species. All iguanas were negative for adenovirus. This is the first description of a herpesvirus in iguanas of the Galapagos islands, and the first report of a potential pathogen for the iconic Galapagos pink land iguana. Further research is needed to understand the implications of this virus in the conservation and management of one of the most endangered iguana species in the world.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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