Non-invasive surveys of mammalian viruses using environmental DNA
Alfano, Niccolò; Dayaram, Anisha; Axtner, Jan; Tsangaras, Kyriakos; Kampmann, Marie-Louise; Mohamed, Azlan; Wong, Seth T.; Gilbert, Marcus Thomas Pius; Wilting, Andreas; Greenwood, Alex D.
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
Åpne
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2983159Utgivelsesdato
2021Metadata
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- Institutt for naturhistorie [1217]
- Publikasjoner fra CRIStin - NTNU [37669]
Sammendrag
Environmental DNA (eDNA) and invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA) are used to survey biodiversity non-invasively to mitigate difficulties in obtaining wildlife samples, particularly in remote areas or for rare species. Recently, eDNA/iDNA were used to monitor known wildlife pathogens; however, most wildlife pathogens are unknown and often evolutionarily divergent.
To detect and identify known and novel mammalian viruses from eDNA/iDNA, we used a curated set of RNA oligonucleotides as viral baits in a hybridization capture system coupled with high-throughput sequencing.
We detected multiple known and novel mammalian RNA and DNA viruses from multiple viral families from both waterhole eDNA and leech-derived iDNA. Congruence was found between detected hosts and viruses identified in leeches and waterholes.
Our results demonstrate that eDNA/iDNA samples represent an effective non-invasive resource for studying wildlife viral diversity and for detecting novel potentially zoonotic viruses prior to their emergence.