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The enteric virome of cats with feline panleukopenia differs in abundance and diversity from healthy cats
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  • Vanessa Barrs,
  • Kate Van Brussel,
  • Xiuwan Wang,
  • Mang Shi,
  • Maura Carrai,
  • Shuo Feng,
  • Jun Li,
  • Edward Holmes,
  • Julia Beatty
Vanessa Barrs
The University of Sydney School of Veterinary Science

Corresponding Author:vanessa.barrs@cityu.edu.hk

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Kate Van Brussel
The University of Sydney School of Veterinary Science
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Xiuwan Wang
City University of Hong Kong
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Mang Shi
The University of Sydney
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Maura Carrai
City University of Hong Kong
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Shuo Feng
City University of Hong Kong
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Jun Li
City University of Hong Kong
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Edward Holmes
The University of Sydney
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Julia Beatty
The University of Sydney School of Veterinary Science
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Abstract

Feline panleukopenia (FPL) is a severe, often fatal disease caused by feline parvovirus (FPV). How infection with FPV might impact the composition of the entire eukaryotic enteric virome in cats has not been characterized. We used metatranscriptomic and viral particle enrichment metagenomic approaches to characterize the enteric viromes of 23 cats naturally infected with FPV (FPV-cases) and 36 age-matched healthy shelter cats (healthy controls). Sequencing reads were detected from 11 mammalian infecting viral families mostly belonging to Coronaviridae, Parvoviridae and Astroviridae. Among the healthy control cats the most abundant viruses were Feline coronavirus, Mamastrovirus 2 and Carnivore bocaparvovirus 3 (Feline bocavirus 1) with frequent co-infections of all three. Feline chaphamaparvovirus was only detected in healthy controls (6/36, 16.7%). Among the FPV-cases, in addition to FPV, the most abundant viruses were Mamastrovirus 2, Feline coronavirus and Carnivore bocaparvovirus 4 (Feline bocaparvovirus 2). The latter and Feline bocaparvovirus 3 were detected significantly more frequently in FPV-cases than in healthy controls. Feline calicivirus was present in a high proportion of FPV-cases (11/23, 47.8%) compared to healthy controls (5/36, 13.9%, p=0.0067). Feline kobuvirus infections were also common among FPV-cases (9/23, 39.1%) and were not detected in any healthy control cats (p<0.0001). While abundant in both groups, astroviruses were more frequently present in FPV-cases (19/23, 82.6%) than in healthy controls (18/36, p=0.0142). The differences in eukaryotic virome composition found in this study indicate that further investigations to determine associations between enteric viral co-infections on clinical disease severity in cats with FPL are warranted.
03 Apr 2022Submitted to Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
04 Apr 2022Submission Checks Completed
04 Apr 2022Assigned to Editor
05 Apr 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
02 May 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
02 May 2022Editorial Decision: Revise Major
31 May 20221st Revision Received
31 May 2022Submission Checks Completed
31 May 2022Assigned to Editor
05 Jun 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
18 Jun 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
18 Jun 2022Editorial Decision: Accept