Koala retrovirus viral load and disease burden in distinct northern and southern koala populations

Sarker, Nishat; Fabijan, Jessica; Owen, Helen; Seddon, Jennifer; Simmons, Greg; Speight, Natasha; Kaler, Jasmeet; Woolford, Lucy; Emes, Richard David; Hemmatzadeh, Farhid; Trott, Darren; Meers, Joanne; Tarlinton, Rachael Eugenie

Abstract

Koala retrovirus (KoRV) displays features of both an endogenous and exogenous virus and is linked to neoplasia and immunosuppression in koalas. This study explores the apparent differences in the nature and impact of KoRV infection between geographically and genetically separated "northern" and "southern" koala populations, by investigating the disease status, completeness of the KoRV genome and the proviral (DNA) and viral (RNA) loads of 71 northern and 97 southern koalas. All northern animals were positive for all KoRV genes (gag, pro-pol and env) in both DNA and RNA forms, whereas many southern animals were missing one or more KoRV genes. There was a significant relationship between the completeness of the KoRV genome and clinical status in this population. The proviral and viral loads of the northern population were significantly higher than those of the southern population (P 

Citation

Sarker, N., Fabijan, J., Owen, H., Seddon, J., Simmons, G., Speight, N., Kaler, J., Woolford, L., Emes, R. D., Hemmatzadeh, F., Trott, D., Meers, J., & Tarlinton, R. E. (2020). Koala retrovirus viral load and disease burden in distinct northern and southern koala populations. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 263. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56546-0

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 13, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 14, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 14, 2020
• Deposit Date: Dec 17, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 14, 2020
• Journal: Scientific reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 263
• Pages: 263
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56546-0
• Keywords: Multidisciplinary
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3588001
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-56546-0
• Additional Information: Received: 23 July 2019; Accepted: 13 December 2019; First Online: 14 January 2020; : The authors declare no competing interests.