Molecular epidemiology and genome analysis of feline morbillivirus in household and shelter cats in Thailand

Surangkanang Chaiyasak,Chutchai Piewbang,Somporn Techangamsuwan,Anudep Rungsipipat

doi:10.1186/s12917-020-02467-4

Surangkanang Chaiyasak, Chutchai Piewbang + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-020-02467-4

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Journal: BMC Veterinary Research	Publication Date: Jul 13, 2020
Citations: 10	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Chulalongkorn University

Abstract

BackgroundFeline morbillivirus (FeMV) has been discovered in domestic cats associated with tubulointerstitial nephritis, but FeMV is also detected in healthy cats. This research aimed to identify and characterize the FeMV strains detected in a Thai cat population.ResultsTwo-hundred and ninety-two samples (131 urine and 161 blood) derived from 261 cats (61 sheltered and 200 household cats) were included for investigating the FeMV prevalence using real-time reverse transcription PCR. The overall prevalence of FeMV detection was 11.9% (31/261) among both samples, which accounted for 14.5% (19/131) and 7.5% (12/161) of the urine and blood samples, respectively. Among the FeMV-PCR positive cats, the FeMV-detected prevalence was insignificantly associated with healthy cats (58.1%; 18/31) or urologic cats (41.9%; 13/31). Full-length genome analysis of these FeMV-Thai strains revealed that their genomes clustered together in the FeMV-1A clade with up to 98.5% nucleotide identity. Selective pressure analysis showed that overall FeMV-1 has undergone negative selection, while positive selection sites were more frequently observed in the phosphoprotein gene.ConclusionsThe detected FeMV infections in the Thai cat population were not correlated with urologic disorders, although the virus was more detectable in urine samples. The genetic patterns among the FeMV-1 Thai strains were more consistent. A large-scale study of FeMV in Thai cat samples is needed for further elucidation.

Highlights

Feline morbillivirus (FeMV) has been discovered in domestic cats associated with tubulointerstitial nephritis, but FeMV is detected in healthy cats
For the FeMV-positive urine samples, FeMV infection was found in cats with urinary tract disease (UTD) (11/19, 57.9%; all were household cats), followed by no clinical significance or apparently healthy (6/19, 31.6%; all were shelter cats) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) (2/19, 10.5%; both were household cats) (Table 2)
Association between the FeMV infection status, urine characteristics, urologic diseases and feline retrovirus detection The urinalysis of the group A household cats was determined in terms of the physical, chemical, and microscopic features and tabulated according to the FeMV-PCR positive results

Summary

Introduction

Feline morbillivirus (FeMV) has been discovered in domestic cats associated with tubulointerstitial nephritis, but FeMV is detected in healthy cats. Chaiyasak et al BMC Veterinary Research (2020) 16:240 comparison of FeMV detection in urine and other derived samples was reported [1, 9]. Full-length genome analysis of FeMV has categorized this virus into the two genotypes of FeMV-1 (former FeMV) [19, 20] and FeMV-2 (former FeMVGT2), the latter of which was recently detected in cats showing urinary tract disease (UTD) in Germany [19]. Neither the FeMV-1 nor FeMV-2 genotype is able to clarify the association with nephropathy in cats [7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19]. The genetic characteristics of FeMV in many regions remain to be elucidated for studying viral pathogenesis, such as different cellular tropism [19, 22]

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