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Carvajal M, Saenz C, Fuentes N, Guevara R, Muñoz E, Prado-Vivar B, Diaz E, Alfonso-Cortes F, Coloma J, Grunauer M, Rojas-Silva P, Cardenas PA, Barragan V. SARS-CoV-2 infection in brown-headed spider monkeys ( Ateles fusciceps) at a wildlife rescue center on the coast of Ecuador-South America. Microbiol Spectr 2024; 12:e0274123. [PMID: 38364080 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02741-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Human populations can be affected in unpredictable ways by the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases. The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease of 2019) pandemic was a reminder of how devastating these events can be if left unchecked. However, once they have spread globally, the impact of these diseases when entering non-exposed wildlife populations is unknown. The current study reports the infection of brown-headed spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps) at a wildlife rescue center in Ecuador. Four monkeys were hospitalized, and all tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) by RT-qPCR (Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR). Fecal samples (n = 12) from monkeys at the rescue center also tested positive; three zookeepers responsible for feeding and deworming the monkeys also tested positive, suggesting human-animal transmission. Whole genome sequencing identified most samples' omicron clade 22B BA.5 lineage. These findings highlight the threat posed by an emerging zoonotic disease in wildlife species and the importance of preventing spillover and spillback events during epidemic or pandemic events.IMPORTANCEAlthough COVID-19 (coronavirus disease of 2019) has been primarily contained in humans through widespread vaccination, the impact and incidence of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus) and its transmission and epidemiology in wildlife may need to be addressed. In some natural environments, the proximity of animals to humans is difficult to control, creating perfect scenarios where susceptible wildlife can acquire the virus from humans. In these places, it is essential to understand how transmission can occur and to develop protocols to prevent infection. This study reports the infection of brown-headed spider monkeys with SARS-CoV-2, a red-listed monkey species, at a wildlife recovery center in Ecuador. This study reports the infection of brown-headed spider monkeys with SARS-CoV-2, indicating the potential for transmission between humans and wildlife primates and the importance of preventing such events in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mateo Carvajal
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Microbiología, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Carolina Saenz
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Hospital de Fauna Silvestre TUERI-USFQ, Quito, Ecuador
| | | | - Rommel Guevara
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Microbiología, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Erika Muñoz
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Microbiología, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Belen Prado-Vivar
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Microbiología, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Eduardo Diaz
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Quito, Ecuador
| | | | | | - Michelle Grunauer
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Escuela de Medicina, Quito, Ecuador
| | | | - Paul A Cardenas
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Microbiología, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Veronica Barragan
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Microbiología, Quito, Ecuador
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Weckle A, McGowen MR, Xing J, Chen C, Sterner KN, Hou ZC, Romero R, Wildman DE. Ancestral resurrection of anthropoid estrogen receptor β demonstrates functional consequences of positive selection. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2017; 117:2-9. [PMID: 28916155 PMCID: PMC6071416 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2016] [Revised: 09/08/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Anthropoid primates arose during the Eocene approximately 55 million years ago (mya), and extant anthropoids share a most recent common ancestor ∼40mya. Paleontology has been very successful at describing the morphological phenotypes of extinct anthropoids. Less well understood is the molecular biology of these extinct species as well as the phenotypic consequences of evolutionary variation in their genomes. Here we resurrect the most recent common ancestral anthropoid estrogen receptor β gene (ESR2) and demonstrate that the function of this ancestral estrogen receptor has been maintained during human descent but was altered during early New World monkey (NWM) evolution by becoming a more potent transcriptional activator. We tested hypotheses of adaptive evolution in the protein coding sequences of ESR2, and determined that ESR2 evolved via episodic positive selection on the NWM stem lineage. We separately co-transfected ESR2 constructs for human, NWM, and the anthropoid ancestor along with reporter gene vectors and performed hormone binding dose response experiments that measure transactivation activity. We found the transactivation potentials of the ancestral and human sequences to be significantly lower (p<0.0001 in each comparison) than that of the NWM when treated with estradiol, the most prevalent estrogen. We conclude the difference in fold activation is due to positive selection in the NWM ERβ ligand binding domain. Our study validates inferential methods for detecting adaptive evolution that predict functional consequences of nucleotide substitutions and points a way toward examining the functional consequences of positive Darwinian selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Weckle
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Michael R McGowen
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jun Xing
- Center for Molecular Medicine & Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Caoyi Chen
- Life Science Institute, Nantong University, Nantong, People's Republic of China
| | | | - Zhuo-Cheng Hou
- Department of Animal Genetics, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Roberto Romero
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, London, United Kingdom; Perinatology Research Branch, Division of Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Derek E Wildman
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
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