Maintenance of picobirnavirus (PBV) infection in an adult orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) and genetic diversity of excreted viral strains during a three-year period

GISELA MASACHESSI ; BALASUBRAMANIAN GANESH ; LAURA C MARTINEZ; MIGUEL O GIORDANO; PATRICIA A BARRIL,; MARÍA B ISA; JORGE V PAVAN; CARLOS A MATEOS,; SILVIA V NATES

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 p. 196 - 196

bstract: The present work provide data about the maintenance and evolution of picobirnavirus infection during adulthood in mammalian hosts. For this purpose picobirnavirus infection was characterized in an adult orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) by PAGE/SS, RT-PCR and nucleotide sequencing. Picobirnavirus infection in the animal was asymptomatic and was characterized by interspaced silent and high/ low active viral excretion periods. Picobirnavirus strains were identified as genogroup I and revealed a nucleotide identity of 64-81%. The results obtained allowed to arrive to a deeper understanding of the natural history of PBV infection, which seems to be characterized by new-born, juvenile and adult asymptomatic hosts which persistently excrete closely related strains in their faeces. Consequently, picobirnaviruses could be considered frequent inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract, leaving the question open about the molecular mechanisms governing persistent and asymptomatic coe