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Koala retrovirus (KoRV) subtypes and their impact on captive koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) health

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Abstract

Koala retrovirus (KoRV), a major pathogen of koalas, exists in both endogenous (KoRV-A) and exogenous forms (KoRV-B to J). However, the impact of infection with multiple subtypes is not well understood. Accordingly, in this study, we surveyed a representative sample from a Japanese zoo population to determine the infection status for three KoRV subtypes (KoRV-A, B, and C) and to investigate the proviral and RNA load profiles in animals with single- and multiple-subtype infections, using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma. Six koalas were evaluated in the study; all were infected with KoRV-A, and two koalas were coinfected with non-A subtypes (KoRV-B and/or KoRV-C). The highest KoRV total RNA and viral loads in PBMCs and plasma were found in a koala infected with multiple subtypes (KoRV-A, -B and -C). The other koala infected with multiple subtypes (KoRV-A and B) showed the highest proviral PBMC load but the lowest RNA copy number in PBMC and plasma. PBMCs from this animal were cultured for further investigation, and KoRV RNA was detected in the cells and culture supernatant after 7 and/or 14 days. The koalas harboring multiple subtypes had a higher white blood cell count than those harboring only KoRV-A and were judged to be leukemic, and they subsequently died due to lymphoma. Accordingly, we conclude that coinfection with multiple KoRV subtypes may be linked to more-severe disease. In a sequence alignment, the detected KoRV-A env gene showed 100% sequence identity to the reference gene, whereas the KoRV-B and -C env genes varied from their reference sequences.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Henry Smith of the Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan, for his enthusiastic English edition of this manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Transboundary Animal Diseases Center, Laboratory of Animal Hygiene, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University, 1-21-24 Korimoto, Kagoshima, 890-0065, Japan

    Md Abul Hashem, Mohammad Enamul Hoque Kayesh & Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara

  2. Laboratory of Animal Hygiene, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan

    Md Abul Hashem, Mohammad Enamul Hoque Kayesh & Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara

  3. Department of Health, Chattogram City Corporation, Chattogram, 4000, Bangladesh

    Md Abul Hashem

  4. Department of Microbiology and Public Health, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Babugonj, Barishal, 8210, Bangladesh

    Mohammad Enamul Hoque Kayesh

  5. Hirakawa Zoological Park, Kagoshima, 891-0133, Japan

    Fumie Maetani, Taiki Eiei, Kyoya Mochizuki, Shinsaku Ochiai, Ayaka Ito, Nanao Ito, Hiroko Sakurai & Takayuki Asai

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  1. Md Abul Hashem
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  11. Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara
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Contributions

Conceptualization: MAH and KT-K; conducting of experiments: MAH, MEHK, FM, TE, KM, SO, AI, NI, HS, TA and KT-K; data analysis: MAH and KT-K; original draft preparation: MAH and KT-K; reviewing and editing, MAH, MEHK and KT-K; supervision: KT-K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Ethical approval

This study was performed in accordance with the protocols of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.

Additional information

Handling Editor: William G. Dundon.

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Hashem, M.A., Kayesh, M.E.H., Maetani, F. et al. Koala retrovirus (KoRV) subtypes and their impact on captive koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) health. Arch Virol 166, 1893–1901 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05078-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05078-y

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