Sustainability Research Centre & PhD in Conservation Medicine Program, Life Sciences Faculty, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile.
Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom.
PeerJ. 2023 Feb 27;11:e14497. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14497. eCollection 2023.
Ranaviruses have been associated with amphibian, fish and reptile mortality events worldwide and with amphibian population declines in parts of Europe. is a widespread invasive amphibian species in Chile. Recently, (FV3), the type species of the genus, was detected in two wild populations of this frog near Santiago in Chile, however, the extent of ranavirus infection in this country remains unknown. To obtain more information about the origin of ranavirus in Chile, its distribution, species affected, and the role of invasive amphibians and freshwater fish in the epidemiology of ranavirus, a surveillance study comprising wild and farmed amphibians and wild fish over a large latitudinal gradient (2,500 km) was carried out in 2015-2017. In total, 1,752 amphibians and 496 fish were tested using a ranavirus-specific qPCR assay, and positive samples were analyzed for virus characterization through whole genome sequencing of viral DNA obtained from infected tissue. Ranavirus was detected at low viral loads in nine of 1,011 from four populations in central Chile. No other amphibian or fish species tested were positive for ranavirus, suggesting ranavirus is not threatening native Chilean species yet. Phylogenetic analysis of partial ranavirus sequences showed 100% similarity with FV3. Our results show a restricted range of ranavirus infection in central Chile, coinciding with presence, and suggest that FV3 may have entered the country through infected , which appears to act as a competent reservoir host, and may contribute to the spread the virus locally as it invades new areas, and globally through the pet trade.
蛙虹彩病毒已被证实与全球范围内的两栖动物、鱼类和爬行动物的死亡事件有关，并与欧洲部分地区的两栖动物数量下降有关。智利牛蛙是一种分布广泛的入侵性两栖物种。最近，在智利圣地亚哥附近的两个野生蛙种群中检测到了蛙虹彩病毒属的模式种（FV3），然而，这种病毒在该国的感染程度仍不清楚。为了获得更多关于智利蛙虹彩病毒的起源、分布、受感染物种以及入侵性两栖动物和淡水鱼类在蛙虹彩病毒流行病学中的作用的信息，2015-2017 年在一个大的纬度梯度（2500 公里）范围内对野生和养殖的两栖动物和野生鱼类进行了一项监测研究。共使用蛙虹彩病毒特异性 qPCR 检测了 1752 只两栖动物和 496 只鱼类样本，阳性样本通过从感染组织中获得的病毒 DNA 的全基因组测序进行病毒特征分析。在智利中部四个种群的 1011 只中，有 9 只检测到低病毒载量的蛙虹彩病毒。没有其他测试的两栖动物或鱼类物种对蛙虹彩病毒呈阳性，这表明蛙虹彩病毒尚未对智利本土物种构成威胁。部分蛙虹彩病毒序列的系统发育分析显示与 FV3 具有 100%的相似性。我们的研究结果表明，智利中部的蛙虹彩病毒感染范围有限，与智利牛蛙的存在相一致，并表明 FV3 可能是通过感染的智利牛蛙进入该国的，智利牛蛙似乎是一个有能力的储存宿主，并可能随着其入侵新的地区而在当地传播病毒，并通过宠物贸易在全球传播病毒。
