Abstract
Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) has emerged as the pathogen that poses the greatest risk of triggering epizootics in cetacean populations worldwide, and has a high propensity for interspecies transmission, including sporadic infection of seals. In this study, we investigated the evolutionary history of CeMV by deep sequencing wild-type viruses from tissue samples representing cetacean species with different spatiotemporal origins. Bayesian phylogeographic analysis generated an estimated evolutionary rate of 2.34 × 10−4 nucleotide substitutions/site/year and showed that CeMV evolutionary dynamics are neither host-restricted nor location-restricted. Moreover, the dolphin morbillivirus strain of CeMV has undergone purifying selection without evidence of species-specific mutations. Cell-to-cell fusion and growth kinetics assays demonstrated that CeMV can use both dolphin and seal CD150 as a cellular receptor. Thus, it appears that CeMV can readily spread among multiple cetacean populations and may pose an additional spillover risk to seals.
Highlights
Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) is known to infect a wide range of cetacean species from both Odontoceti and Mysticeti subgroups[1], including threatened and endangered species, such as the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) and sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
Samples were first screened by real-time PCR (RT-PCR) to assess the viral load with Ct values ranging from 12 to 32
Complete CeMV genome sequences from tissue samples and virus isolates were generated by a combination of generation sequencing (NGS) (Fig. 1a) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE; Fig. 1b and Supplementary Fig. S1)
Summary
Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) is known to infect a wide range of cetacean species from both Odontoceti (toothed whales) and Mysticeti (baleen whales) subgroups[1], including threatened and endangered species, such as the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) and sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). This emerging morbillivirus causes variable degrees of morbidity and mortality and may have a major impact on the demography and conservation of cetacean populations. Pilot whale morbillivirus (PWMV) has been sporadically reported to have infected pilot whales
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