Abstract
Papillomaviruses (PVs) are considered highly species-specific with cospeciation as the main driving force in their evolution. However, a recent increase in the available PV genome sequences has revealed inconsistencies in virus–host phylogenies, which could be explained by adaptive radiation, recombination, host-switching events and a broad PV host range. Unfortunately, with a relatively low number of animal PVs characterized, understanding these incongruities remains elusive. To improve knowledge of biology and the spread of animal PV, we collected 60 swabs of the anogenital and head and neck regions from a healthy colony of 30 Roborovski hamsters (Phodopus roborovskii) and detected PVs in 44/60 (73.3%) hamster samples. This is the first report of PV infection in Roborovski hamsters. Moreover, Phodopus sungorus papillomavirus type 1 (PsuPV1), previously characterized in Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus), was the only PV detected in Roborovski hamsters. In addition, after a detailed literature search, review and summary of published evidence and construction of a tanglegram linking the cladograms of PVs and their hosts, our findings were discussed in the context of available knowledge on PVs described in at least two different host species.
Highlights
Papillomaviruses (PVs) comprise a diverse group of small non-enveloped DNA viruses that are known to infect either cutaneous or mucosal stratified epithelia of various vertebrate species
The specificity of the Phodopus sungorus papillomavirus type 1 (PsuPV1) qPCR was verified by Sanger sequencing of 16 randomly selected PsuPV1 qPCR–positive samples (16/16, 100%)
All PsuPV1 qPCR–negative samples were further tested with the Pi-PV PCR, with which 5/21 (23.8%) samples were successfully amplified and characterized as PsuPV1 isolates
Summary
Papillomaviruses (PVs) comprise a diverse group of small non-enveloped DNA viruses that are known to infect either cutaneous or mucosal stratified epithelia of various vertebrate species. PVs are part of the normal host microbiota, whereas specific PV types can cause a variety of different neoplastic lesions. Based on the official PV nomenclature, PV’s taxonomic ranking is set according to the similarity of the highly conserved full-length L1 genes at the 60% nucleotide sequence similarity for genera, 70% for species and 90% for types [6,7]. With 224 human (HPV) and 215 animal PV types currently characterized and officially recognized, Papillomaviridae is one of the largest viral families infecting vertebrates [8,9]. Complete PV genome sequences annotated with clinical and biochemical data that are readily available make PVs an attractive research model for study of the evolution of pathogen-host interactions [10,11,12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
