Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion
Diseases in marine animals are emerging at an increasing rate. Disease forecasting enabled by virus surveillance presents a proactive solution for managing emerging diseases. Broad viral surveys aid in disease forecasting by providing baseline data on viral diversity associated with various hosts, i...
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ftusouthflorida:oai:digitalcommons.usf.edu:etd-8029 2023-07-30T03:57:30+02:00 Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion Fahsbender, Elizabeth 2017-07-07T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6832 https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/context/etd/article/8029/viewcontent/Fahsbender_usf_0206D_14311.pdf unknown Digital Commons @ University of South Florida https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6832 https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/context/etd/article/8029/viewcontent/Fahsbender_usf_0206D_14311.pdf USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations Animal virus Viral metagenomics Whole-genome sequencing Serology Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology dissertation 2017 ftusouthflorida 2023-07-13T21:51:06Z Diseases in marine animals are emerging at an increasing rate. Disease forecasting enabled by virus surveillance presents a proactive solution for managing emerging diseases. Broad viral surveys aid in disease forecasting by providing baseline data on viral diversity associated with various hosts, including many that are not associated with disease. However, these viruses can become pathogens due to expansion in host or geographic range, as well as when changing conditions shift the balance between commensal viruses and the host immune system. Therefore, it is extremely valuable to identify and characterize viruses present in many different hosts in a variety of environments, regardless of whether the hosts are symptomatic or not. The lack of a universal gene shared by all viruses makes virus surveillance difficult, because no single assay exists that can detect the enormous diversity of viruses. Viral metagenomics circumvents this issue by purifying viral particles directly from host tissues and sequencing the nucleic acids, allowing for virus identification. However, virus identification is only the first step, which should ideally be followed by complete sequencing of the viral genome to identify genes of interest and develop assays to reveal viral prevalence, tropism, ecology, and pathogenicity. This dissertation focuses on the discovery of novel viruses in marine animals, characterization of complete viral genomes, and the development of subsequent diagnostic assays for further analysis of virus ecology. First, viral metagenomics was used to explore the viruses present in the healthy Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) population in Antarctica, which led to the discovery of highly prevalent small, circular single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses. The lack of knowledge regarding the viruses of Antarctic wildlife warrants this study to determine baseline viral communities in healthy animals that can be used to survey changes over time. From the healthy Weddell seals, viral metagenomics led to the discovery of ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Weddell Seal Weddell Seals University of South Florida St. Petersburg: Digital USFSP Antarctic Weddell |
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University of South Florida St. Petersburg: Digital USFSP |
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ftusouthflorida |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Animal virus Viral metagenomics Whole-genome sequencing Serology Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology |
spellingShingle |
Animal virus Viral metagenomics Whole-genome sequencing Serology Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Fahsbender, Elizabeth Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion |
topic_facet |
Animal virus Viral metagenomics Whole-genome sequencing Serology Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology |
description |
Diseases in marine animals are emerging at an increasing rate. Disease forecasting enabled by virus surveillance presents a proactive solution for managing emerging diseases. Broad viral surveys aid in disease forecasting by providing baseline data on viral diversity associated with various hosts, including many that are not associated with disease. However, these viruses can become pathogens due to expansion in host or geographic range, as well as when changing conditions shift the balance between commensal viruses and the host immune system. Therefore, it is extremely valuable to identify and characterize viruses present in many different hosts in a variety of environments, regardless of whether the hosts are symptomatic or not. The lack of a universal gene shared by all viruses makes virus surveillance difficult, because no single assay exists that can detect the enormous diversity of viruses. Viral metagenomics circumvents this issue by purifying viral particles directly from host tissues and sequencing the nucleic acids, allowing for virus identification. However, virus identification is only the first step, which should ideally be followed by complete sequencing of the viral genome to identify genes of interest and develop assays to reveal viral prevalence, tropism, ecology, and pathogenicity. This dissertation focuses on the discovery of novel viruses in marine animals, characterization of complete viral genomes, and the development of subsequent diagnostic assays for further analysis of virus ecology. First, viral metagenomics was used to explore the viruses present in the healthy Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) population in Antarctica, which led to the discovery of highly prevalent small, circular single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses. The lack of knowledge regarding the viruses of Antarctic wildlife warrants this study to determine baseline viral communities in healthy animals that can be used to survey changes over time. From the healthy Weddell seals, viral metagenomics led to the discovery of ... |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Fahsbender, Elizabeth |
author_facet |
Fahsbender, Elizabeth |
author_sort |
Fahsbender, Elizabeth |
title |
Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion |
title_short |
Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion |
title_full |
Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion |
title_fullStr |
Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion |
title_full_unstemmed |
Viruses in marine animals: Discovery, detection, and characterizarion |
title_sort |
viruses in marine animals: discovery, detection, and characterizarion |
publisher |
Digital Commons @ University of South Florida |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6832 https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/context/etd/article/8029/viewcontent/Fahsbender_usf_0206D_14311.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Weddell |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
op_source |
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6832 https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/context/etd/article/8029/viewcontent/Fahsbender_usf_0206D_14311.pdf |
_version_ |
1772817761515339776 |