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A novel statovirus identified in fecal samples from wild geladas in the Ethiopian highlands

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Abstract

We present a novel statovirus in geladas (Theropithecus gelada), graminivorous primates endemic to the Ethiopian highlands. Using a high-throughput sequencing approach, we identified contiguous sequences in feces from two adult female geladas in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, that share similarities to statoviruses. Our phylogenetic analysis of the whole genome, as well as the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and capsid protein (CP) amino acid sequences, revealed that the gelada statoviruses cluster with those from other primates (laboratory populations of Macaca nemestrina and Macaca mulatta). As the first report of statovirus in wild primates, this finding contributes to our understanding of the phylogenetic and geographic distribution of statoviruses and their hosts.

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Fig. 1

Data availability

Sequences described in this study have been deposited in the NCBI GenBank database (accession nos. OM373193 and OM373194) and Sequence Read Archive (accession nos. SRR17468237 and SRR17468238).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, the Amhara National Regional Parks State Development and Protection Authority, and all park officials who have permitted and aided our research. We thank Esheti Jejaw, Ambay Fenta, and Setegne Girmay, as well as all past and present field crew of the Simien Mountains Gelada Research Project, for their dedication to over sixteen years of data collection. Long-term gelada research was supported by the National Science Foundation (IOS-1255974, BCS-0715179, BCS-1723237, BCS-1723228), the National Institutes of Health (5R00AG051764-04), the Leakey Foundation, and the National Geographic Society (Gr. #8989-11, Gr. #8100-06). ISC acknowledges funding from the Arizona State University Center for Evolution and Medicine. Finally, we thank the reviewers and editors of this journal for their comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    India A. Schneider-Crease, Kenneth L. Chiou, Isabella L. Moya, Noah Snyder-Mackler & Arvind Varsani

  2. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    India A. Schneider-Crease, Kenneth L. Chiou, Isabella L. Moya, Michael C. Lund, Noah Snyder-Mackler & Arvind Varsani

  3. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    India A. Schneider-Crease

  4. College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, Debre Zeyit, Ethiopia

    Alemayehu Lemma & Ferewihot Ayele

  5. Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Abebaw Azanaw Haile & Fanuel Kebede

  6. African Wildlife Foundation, Debark, Ethiopia

    Belayneh Abebe

  7. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Thore J. Bergman & Jacinta C. Beehner

  8. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Thore J. Bergman

  9. Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Jacinta C. Beehner

  10. Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    Amy Lu

  11. The Biodesign Center of Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Michael C. Lund, Joy M. Custer, Simona Kraberger & Arvind Varsani

  12. Structural Biology Research Unit, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa

    Arvind Varsani

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  1. India A. Schneider-Crease
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  2. Kenneth L. Chiou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to India A. Schneider-Crease.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Compliance with ethical standards

All data collection was approved by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority and the Arizona State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (approval no. 20-1754R) and conformed to the Code of Best Practices in Field Primatology (American Society of Primatologists).

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Handling Editor Ana Cristina Bratanich

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Schneider-Crease, I.A., Chiou, K.L., Moya, I.L. et al. A novel statovirus identified in fecal samples from wild geladas in the Ethiopian highlands. Arch Virol 167, 2709–2713 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-022-05588-3

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