Identification of an avian polyomavirus associated with Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae)

• Main Authors: Varsani, Arvind, Porzig, Elizabeth L., Jennings, Scott, Kraberger, Simona, Farkas, Kata, Julian, Laurel, Masaro, Melanie, Ballard, Grant, Ainley, David G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarctica; Pygoscelis adeliae; Ross Island
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/m900nw11d

Little is known about viruses associated with Antarctic animals, although they are probably widespread. We recovered a novel polyomavirus from Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) faecal matter sampled in a subcolony at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica. The 4988 nt Adélie penguin polyomavirus (AdPyV) has a typical polyomavirus genome organization with three ORFs that encoded capsid proteins on the one strand and two non-structural protein-coding ORFs on the complementary strand. The genome of AdPyV shared ~60% pairwise identity with all avipolyomaviruses. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis of the large T-antigen (T-Ag) amino acid sequences showed that the T-Ag of AdPyV clustered with those of avipolyomaviruses, sharing between 48 and 52% identities. Only three viruses associated with Adélie penguins have been identified at a genomic level, avian influenza virus subtype H11N2 from the Antarctic Peninsula and, respectively, Pygoscelis adeliae papillomavirus and AdPyV from capes Crozier and Royds on Ross Island.