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. 2010 Oct 29;5(10):e13640.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013640.

Prevalence and phylogeny of coronaviruses in wild birds from the Bering Strait area (Beringia)

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Prevalence and phylogeny of coronaviruses in wild birds from the Bering Strait area (Beringia)

Shaman Muradrasoli et al. PLoS One..

Abstract

Coronaviruses (CoVs) can cause mild to severe disease in humans and animals, their host range and environmental spread seem to have been largely underestimated, and they are currently being investigated for their potential medical relevance. Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) belongs to gamma-coronaviruses and causes a costly respiratory viral disease in chickens. The role of wild birds in the epidemiology of IBV is poorly understood. In the present study, we examined 1,002 cloacal and faecal samples collected from 26 wild bird species in the Beringia area for the presence of CoVs, and then we performed statistical and phylogenetic analyses. We detected diverse CoVs by RT-PCR in wild birds in the Beringia area. Sequence analysis showed that the detected viruses are gamma-coronaviruses related to IBV. These findings suggest that wild birds are able to carry gamma-coronaviruses asymptomatically. We concluded that CoVs are widespread among wild birds in Beringia, and their geographic spread and frequency is higher than previously realised. Thus, Avian CoV can be efficiently disseminated over large distances and could be a genetic reservoir for future emerging pathogenic CoVs. Considering the great animal health and economic impact of IBV as well as the recent emergence of novel coronaviruses such as SARS-coronavirus, it is important to investigate the role of wildlife reservoirs in CoV infection biology and epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Neighbour-joining tree of CoVs based on a 560-nt fragment (excluding primer sequences) of the CoV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.
The significance of the tree topology was assessed by 1,000 bootstrapping steps. Evolutionary distances were computed using the Kimura 2 parameter model and are given in the number of base substitutions per site. Previously published mammalian and avian CoV sequences are also included for comparison. BuCoV bulbul coronavirus; BCoV bovine coronavirus; FIPV feline infectious peritonitis virus; IBV infectious bronchitis virus; HCoV human coronavirus; MunCoV munia coronavirus; MHV murine hepatitis virus; ThCoV thrush coronavirus; TGEV transmissible gastroenteritis virus; SARS severe acute respiratory syndrome; PEDV porcine epidemic diarrhea virus; PHEV porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus; FIPV feline infectious peritonitis virus. The sample identification includes; bird species, virus, site, location and sample identification number. PBA Point barrow Alaska; KR Kolyuchin Russia; CIR Commander Island Russia; WIR Wrangel Island Russia. Within the gamma-coronaviruses branch, two clusters were identified. Cluster A contained eight Alaskan and one Russian virus, and the within-group distance ranged between 0.8-16%. The Russian Brent goose viruses formed cluster B with a within-group distance of 0.9-3.5%. GenBank accession numbers are indicated in brackets.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Map of Beringia showing locations where wild bird samples analysed in this study were collected.

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