Abstract
BackgroundHuman astroviruses (HAstVs) are commonly identified worldwide as important aetiological agents of acute gastroenteritis in all age groups. More and more evidences challenged the paradigm that AstV infections are species-specific. Yet to date, AstVs associated with human infections have not been detected in any animal hosts.ResultsViral metagenomics methods were used to detect viral nucleic acids in fecal samples from 69 captive non-human primates (NHPs) from three zoos in China. Sequence reads showing high similarity to astrovirus MLB2 were found in feces from a chimpanzee with diarrhea. The complete genome of this astrovirus was determined and deposited in the GenBank under accession number KX273058 (named SAstV-nj). Phylogenetic analysis based on complete genomes revealed that SAstV-nj was closely related to and shared >98% nucleotide sequence identity with the previous human astrovirus MLB2 strains.ConclusionsThis study suggested that MLB2-related astroviruses might have the potential of cross-species transmission between human and NHP.
Highlights
Human astroviruses (HAstVs) are commonly identified worldwide as important aetiological agents of acute gastroenteritis in all age groups
In this study, using viral metagenomics, an AstV strain which shows close relationship with the AstV MLB2 strains from human based on the complete genome sequence was detected in the fecal sample of a chimpanzee having diarrhea
When the viral sequence reads from the library that contained 888598 raw sequence reads were analyzed, 24 sequence reads showed >97% nucleotide sequence identity to those of human AstV MLB2 strains available in GenBank
Summary
Human astroviruses (HAstVs) are commonly identified worldwide as important aetiological agents of acute gastroenteritis in all age groups. In this study, using viral metagenomics, an AstV strain which shows close relationship with the AstV MLB2 strains from human based on the complete genome sequence was detected in the fecal sample of a chimpanzee having diarrhea. The Illumina MiSeq 2 × 250 base runs of the seven libraries generated raw sequence reads of 888598, 718368, 687546, 545952, 434548, 896488, and 476396, respectively.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
