Coincidental observation of a parvovirus during a targeted bacterial survey of cattle suffering from septic arthritis

DNA capture-based sequencing by hybridization probe enrichment (CapSeq) affords high-throughput and targeted gene-to-organism detection. Despite the specificity designed into CapSeq platforms, untargeted DNA represents additional genes and organisms of interest. To this end, de novo metagenome assemblies of CapSeq datasets present opportunities for discovery. We report an example here. CapSeq of samples that originated from cattle suffering from septic arthritis (SA) resulted in detection and assembly of two ungulate tetraparvovirus 1 genomes. These coincidental detections and assemblies were obtained from a platform designed to characterize bacterial, not viral, pathogens. Access to a sample matched shotgun metagenomic dataset corroborated the result. Importantly, SA is a significant source of lameness in beef cattle that lacks effective and approved treatments, and the list of aetiological agents is incomplete. This metagenomic observation calls attention to the possible implication of viral contributors to bovine SA, which is treated as a bacterial disease. The results exemplify the potential application of unbiased CapSeq data mining to support clinical discoveries.