SIVagm infection in wild African green monkeys from South Africa: epidemiology, natural history, and evolutionary considerations

Date
2013-01-01
Authors
Ma, Dongzhu
Jasinska, Anna
Kristoff, Jan
Grobler, J. Paul
Turner, Trudy
Jung, Yoon
Schmitt, Christopher
Raehtz, Kevin
Feyertag, Felix
Sosa, Natalie Martinez
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
Dongzhu Ma, Anna Jasinska, Jan Kristoff, J Paul Grobler, Trudy Turner, Yoon Jung, Christopher Schmitt, Kevin Raehtz, Felix Feyertag, Natalie Martinez Sosa, Viskam Wijewardana, Donald S Burke, David L Robertson, Russell Tracy, Ivona Pandrea, Nelson Freimer, Cristian Apetrei. 2013. "SIVagm Infection in Wild African Green Monkeys from South Africa: Epidemiology, Natural History, and Evolutionary Considerations." PLOS PATHOGENS, Volume 9, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003011
Abstract
Pathogenesis studies of SIV infection have not been performed to date in wild monkeys due to difficulty in collecting and storing samples on site and the lack of analytical reagents covering the extensive SIV diversity. We performed a large scale study of molecular epidemiology and natural history of SIVagm infection in 225 free-ranging AGMs from multiple locations in South Africa. SIV prevalence (established by sequencing pol, env, and gag) varied dramatically between infant/juvenile (7%) and adult animals (68%) (p,0.0001), and between adult females (78%) and males (57%). Phylogenetic analyses revealed an extensive genetic diversity, including frequent recombination events. Some AGMs harbored epidemiological linked viruses. Viruses infecting AGMs in the Free State, which are separated from those on the coastal side by the Drakensberg Mountains, formed a separate cluster in the phylogenetic trees; this observation supports a long standing presence of SIV in AGMs, at least from the time of their speciation to their Plio-Pleistocene migration. Specific primers/probes were synthesized based on the pol sequence data and viral loads (VLs) were quantified. VLs were of 104 –106 RNA copies/ml, in the range of those observed in experimentally-infected monkeys, validating the experimental approaches in natural hosts. VLs were significantly higher (107–108 RNA copies/ml) in 10 AGMs diagnosed as acutely infected based on SIV seronegativity (Fiebig II), which suggests a very active transmission of SIVagm in the wild. Neither cytokine levels (as biomarkers of immune activation) nor sCD14 levels (a biomarker of microbial translocation) were different between SIVinfected and SIV-uninfected monkeys. This complex algorithm combining sequencing and phylogeny, VL quantification, serology, and testing of surrogate markers of microbial translocation and immune activation permits a systematic investigation of the epidemiology, viral diversity and natural history of SIV infection in wild African natural hosts.
Description
License
© 2013 Ma et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.