The virome of a new world primate unveils a retrovirus that causes immunosuppression

Abstract

The natural reservoirs for some viruses that cause diseases in humans are still controversial, with several hypotheses raising the possibility of cross-species transmission of viruses from non-human primates (NHPs) to man. For this purpose, it is extremely important to characterize viral infections in NHP. A colony of Brachyteles arachnoides, a New World primate (NWP) species hosted at Centro de Primatologia of Rio de Janeiro (CPRJ), Brazil, has been affected by a disease of unknown cause. To identify putative viral agents that possibly led to this disease, specimen # 2506 was selected for this study. A saliva sample was collected to sequence its virome in a MiSeq Illumina platform. PCR and Sanger sequencing were performed to obtain the complete genome. The complete genomes of a simian foamy virus (SFV) and of a simian retrovirus (SRV) that infect the specimen were sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses showed that SFV from B. arachnoides grouped with NWP SFV and the SRV found grouped with SRV from Asian macaques. The SRV described in this study is the first exogenous retrovirus able to cause immunosuppression identified so far in a NWP, leading to its death.