Abstract
BackgroundHerpes simplex viruses form a genus within the alphaherpesvirus subfamily, with three identified viral species isolated from Old World monkeys (OWM); Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (McHV-1; herpes B), Cercopithecine alphaherpesvirus 2 (SA8), and Papiine alphaherpesvirus 2 (PaHV-2; herpes papio). Herpes B is endemic to macaques, while PaHV-2 and SA8 appear endemic to baboons. All three viruses are genetically and antigenically similar, with SA8 and PaHV-2 thought to be avirulent in humans, while herpes B is a biosafety level 4 pathogen. Recently, next-generation sequencing (NGS) has resulted in an increased number of published OWM herpes simplex genomes, allowing an encompassing phylogenetic analysis.ResultsIn this study, phylogenetic networks, in conjunction with a genome-based genetic distance cutoff method were used to examine 27 OWM monkey herpes simplex isolates. Genome-based genetic distances were calculated, resulting in distances between lion and pig-tailed simplex viruses themselves, and versus herpes B core strains that were higher than those between PaHV-2 and SA8 (approximately 14 and 10% respectively). The species distance cutoff was determined to be 8.94%, with the method recovering separate species status for PaHV-2 and SA8 and showed that lion and pig-tailed simplex viruses (vs core herpes B strains) were well over the distance species cutoff.ConclusionsWe propose designating lion and pig-tailed simplex viruses as separate, individual viral species, and that this may be the first identification of viral cryptic species.
Highlights
Herpes simplex viruses form a genus within the alphaherpesvirus subfamily, with three identified viral species isolated from Old World monkeys (OWM); Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (McHV-1; herpes B), Cercopithecine alphaherpesvirus 2 (SA8), and Papiine alphaherpesvirus 2 (PaHV-2; herpes papio)
Old world monkey simplex virus phylogeny To investigate if the pig and lion-tailed macaque simplex viruses warranted separate species status, the genomes of the available Old World monkey (OWM) derived simplex viruses were downloaded from Genbank (Table 1)
The results suggest that herpes simplex viruses isolated from lion and pig-tailed macaques should be designated as separate species
Summary
Herpes simplex viruses form a genus within the alphaherpesvirus subfamily, with three identified viral species isolated from Old World monkeys (OWM); Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (McHV-1; herpes B), Cercopithecine alphaherpesvirus 2 (SA8), and Papiine alphaherpesvirus 2 (PaHV-2; herpes papio). Nextgeneration sequencing (NGS) has resulted in an increased number of published OWM herpes simplex genomes, allowing an encompassing phylogenetic analysis. Herpes B has an approximately 156,400 bp genome, a high GC content of 74.5%, and has been shown to be closely related to Papiine alphaherpesvirus 2 (PaHV-2; herpes papio) and Cercopithecine alphaherpesvirus 2 (SA8). A herpes B multi-isolate analysis previously showed that herpes B strains isolated from M. silenus and M. nemestrina were distant from the remaining macaque derived sequences according to percent coding identity [12]
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