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Section: Infections
Topic: Ecology, Genetics/genomics, Microbiology
Diverse fox circovirus (Circovirus canine) variants circulate at high prevalence in grey wolves (Canis lupus) from the Northwest Territories, Canada
10.24072/pcjournal.443 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 4 (2024), article no. e73.
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Canine circoviruses (CanineCV) have a worldwide distribution in dogs and are occasionally detected in wild carnivorans, indicating their ability for cross-species transmission. However, fox circovirus, a lineage of CanineCV, has been identified exclusively in wild canids. We analyzed spleen samples from 159 grey wolves from the Northwest Territories, Canada, to investigate the molecular epidemiology of CanineCV and formulate hypotheses about virus ecology and evolution. Overall, 72 out of 159 (45.3%) animals tested positive. Virus prevalence was similar between males and females, adults and juveniles, and across the investigated years and locations. CanineCV infection was not associated with a poor body condition. While the percentage of co-infections with canine parvoviruses, investigated in a previous study, was high (63/72, 87.5%), the rate of parvovirus infection in CanineCV-negative animals was significantly lower (42/87, 48.3%, χ2 = 27.03, p < 0.001), and CanineCV infection was associated with a 7.5- and 2.4-fold increase in the risk of acquiring canine parvovirus 2 or canine bufavirus infections, respectively (odds ratios: 3.5-16.9 and 1.3-5.8). Although common risk factors cannot be ruled out, this suggests that CanineCV may facilitate parvoviral super-infections. Sequencing revealed high CanineCV genetic diversity, further exacerbated by recombination. Of the 69 sequenced strains, 87.5% were fox circoviruses, five were related to a fox circovirus-like recombinant strain, and one belonged to a distant lineage. In the phylogenetic analysis, the virus sequences were distributed according to sampling locations, with some viruses being geographically restricted. Different clades of viruses were identified in the same areas and over multiple years (2007-2019), indicating the co-existence of multiple endemic lineages in the investigated area. Phylogenetic analysis of all available complete fox circovirus genomes (32 from foxes and 15 from wolves from North America and Europe) demonstrated four lineages, each including sequences from this study. Within each lineage, strains segregated geographically and not by host. This implies that, although multiple lineages co-exist, viruses do not frequently move between locations. Finally, viruses from Europe and North America were mixed, indicating that the origin of the four lineages might predate the segregation of European and American wolf and fox populations. Given the high prevalence and diversity of fox circoviruses in wolves, these animals should be considered reservoir hosts for these viruses. Although we cannot exclude a lower susceptibility of dogs, the lack of fox circovirus in dogs could be due to environmental circumstances that prevented its spread to dogs. Given the high diversity and wild host specificity, we presume a long-lasting association between fox circovirus and canine hosts and hypothesize a higher likelihood of transmission from dogs to wild animals than vice versa. Further studies should investigate other sympatric wild species and additional locations to explore the possible existence of additional maintenance hosts and the reasons behind the marked difference in cross-species transmission dynamics among CanineCV lineages.
Type: Research article
Canuti, Marta 1; King, Abigail V.L. 2; Franzo, Giovanni 3; Cluff, H. Dean 4; Larsen, Lars E. 1; Fenton, Heather 4; Dufour, Suzanne C. 2; Lang, Andrew S. 2
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@article{10_24072_pcjournal_443, author = {Canuti, Marta and King, Abigail V.L. and Franzo, Giovanni and Cluff, H. Dean and Larsen, Lars E. and Fenton, Heather and Dufour, Suzanne C. and Lang, Andrew S.}, title = {Diverse fox circovirus {(\protect\emph{Circovirus} canine}) variants circulate at high prevalence in grey wolves {(\protect\emph{Canis} lupus}) from the {Northwest} {Territories,} {Canada}}, journal = {Peer Community Journal}, eid = {e73}, publisher = {Peer Community In}, volume = {4}, year = {2024}, doi = {10.24072/pcjournal.443}, language = {en}, url = {https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.443/} }
TY - JOUR AU - Canuti, Marta AU - King, Abigail V.L. AU - Franzo, Giovanni AU - Cluff, H. Dean AU - Larsen, Lars E. AU - Fenton, Heather AU - Dufour, Suzanne C. AU - Lang, Andrew S. TI - Diverse fox circovirus (Circovirus canine) variants circulate at high prevalence in grey wolves (Canis lupus) from the Northwest Territories, Canada JO - Peer Community Journal PY - 2024 VL - 4 PB - Peer Community In UR - https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.443/ DO - 10.24072/pcjournal.443 LA - en ID - 10_24072_pcjournal_443 ER -
%0 Journal Article %A Canuti, Marta %A King, Abigail V.L. %A Franzo, Giovanni %A Cluff, H. Dean %A Larsen, Lars E. %A Fenton, Heather %A Dufour, Suzanne C. %A Lang, Andrew S. %T Diverse fox circovirus (Circovirus canine) variants circulate at high prevalence in grey wolves (Canis lupus) from the Northwest Territories, Canada %J Peer Community Journal %D 2024 %V 4 %I Peer Community In %U https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.443/ %R 10.24072/pcjournal.443 %G en %F 10_24072_pcjournal_443
Canuti, Marta; King, Abigail V.L.; Franzo, Giovanni; Cluff, H. Dean; Larsen, Lars E.; Fenton, Heather; Dufour, Suzanne C.; Lang, Andrew S. Diverse fox circovirus (Circovirus canine) variants circulate at high prevalence in grey wolves (Canis lupus) from the Northwest Territories, Canada. Peer Community Journal, Volume 4 (2024), article no. e73. doi : 10.24072/pcjournal.443. https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.443/
PCI peer reviews and recommendation, and links to data, scripts, code and supplementary information: 10.24072/pci.infections.100200
Conflict of interest of the recommender and peer reviewers:
The recommender in charge of the evaluation of the article and the reviewers declared that they have no conflict of interest (as defined in the code of conduct of PCI) with the authors or with the content of the article.
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