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Genetic comparison among dolphin morbillivirus in the 1990-1992 and 2006-2008 Mediterranean outbreaks

Edwige Nina Bellière1, Fernando Esperón, José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno

  • 1National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology, INIA, Research Center for Animal Health, CISA, 28130 Valdeolmos, Spain. nina.belliere@inia.es

Infection, Genetics and Evolution : Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases
|September 6, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) strains from 2007 evolved from the 1990 Spanish strain, impacting striped dolphins and pilot whales. A mutation in the fusion protein may have enabled pilot whale infection.

Area of Science:

  • Veterinary Virology
  • Marine Mammal Health
  • Ecology of Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • Dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) caused significant mortality in Mediterranean striped dolphins in 1990.
  • A subsequent outbreak in 2006-2008 affected both striped dolphins and long-finned pilot whales.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the sequence identity between DMV strains from the 2006-2008 outbreak and the 1990 Spanish strain.
  • To investigate the evolutionary relationship between these DMV strains using phylogenetic analysis.
  • To identify hypervariable regions within the DMV genome.

Main Methods:

  • Sequencing of extensive genomic regions from 2007 pilot whale and striped dolphin DMV strains.
  • Phylogenetic tree construction using phosphoprotein gene and nearly complete DMV genomes.
  • Comparative sequence analysis of morbillivirus strains.

Main Results:

  • 2007 Spanish DMV strains exhibited 99.9% sequence identity, confirming them as a single viral entity.
  • The 2007 strains were 99.3-99.4% similar to the 1990 Spanish strain.
  • Phylogenetic analysis indicated that 2007 DMV strains evolved from the 1990 strain, with pilot whales showing naive immune responses.

Conclusions:

  • The 2007 DMV outbreak strains likely evolved from the 1990 strain, potentially within striped dolphin populations.
  • DMV transmission to naive long-finned pilot whale populations may have been facilitated by specific mutations, such as alanine to valine in the fusion protein.

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