Identification of A Novel Picorna-Like Virus, Burpengary Virus, that is Negatively Associated with Chlamydial Disease in the Koala.

Erin Harvey,Danielle Madden,Adam Polkinghorne,Edward Holmes

doi:10.3390/v11030211

Erin Harvey, Danielle Madden + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/v11030211

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Journal: Viruses	Publication Date: Mar 2, 2019
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Sydney, University of the Sunshine Coast

Abstract

Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are native Australian marsupials whose populations are in decline from a range of threats. Infectious diseases caused by the bacterium Chlamydia pecorum and other pathogens are of particular concern. We analysed 26 poly-A selected RNA-sequencing libraries from a data set designed to study the immune response of koalas to ocular chlamydial infection. Using virus discovery techniques, we identified the coding-complete genome sequence of a novel picorna-like virus, denoted Burpengary virus, that was most common in south-east Queensland. Notably, abundance measurements of the virus across all 26 libraries revealed an inverse relationship between abundance and ocular disease in koalas, suggesting that the co-infection of Burpengary virus and Chlamydia pecorum is inhibited.

Highlights

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is an iconic Australian marsupial species under threat from a number of anthropogenic factors such as loss of habitat due to deforestation and urbanisation, attack from domestic animals such as cats and dogs, and vehicle collisions [1]
A total of 26 sequencing libraries were chosen from a larger data set originally generated to analyse the immune response of koalas to ocular chlamydial infection [11]
These RNA-sequencing libraries included samples from 26 individual koalas in varying stages of ocular health grouped into five categories based on disease state and presence or absence of C. pecorum following qPCR screening

Summary

Introduction

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is an iconic Australian marsupial species under threat from a number of anthropogenic factors such as loss of habitat due to deforestation and urbanisation, attack from domestic animals such as cats and dogs, and vehicle collisions [1]. KoRV has been linked to leukaemia in koalas and is a potential contributing factor to the high rates of Chlamydia, such that KoRV might cause immunomodulation and increase susceptibility to chlamydial disease [7]. To determine if koalas suffering ocular disease due to Chlamydia might be infected with other viruses, we employed virus discovery techniques based on bulk RNA sequencing [8,9,10]. These data were previously collected to analyse the immune response of koalas to ocular infection, that caused by

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Conclusion