The genetic diversity of papillomavirome in bovine teat papilloma lesions

Background Papillomaviruses are small nonenveloped, circular double-stranded DNA viruses that belong to the Papillomaviridae family. To date, 29 Bos taurus papillomavirus (BPV) types have been described. Studies involving mixed BPV infections have rarely been reported in contrast to human papillomavirus (HPV), which is commonly described in numerous studies showing coinfections. Moreover, previous studies had shown that HPV coinfections increase the risk of carcinogenesis. In the present study, we used rolling-circle amplification followed by a high-throughput sequencing (RCA-HTS) approach in 23 teat papillomas from southern Brazil. Results Eleven well-characterized BPV types and 14 putative new BPV types were genetically characterized into the Xi, Epsilon and Dyoxipapillomavirus genera according to phylogenetic analysis of the L1 gene, which expands the previous 29 BPV types to 43. Moreover, BPV coinfections were detected in the majority (56.3%) of the papilloma lesions analyzed, suggesting a genetic diverse papillomavirome in bovine teat warts. Conclusions The data generated in this study support the possibility that a wide range of BPV is probably underdetected by conventional molecular detection tools, and that BPV coinfections are underestimated and probably genetic diverse. Additionally, 14 new BPV types were characterized, increasing the knowledge regarding BPV genetic diversity.

Automated summary

This study identified 11 known BPV types and 14 putative new BPV types in teat papillomas from southern Brazil using rolling-circle amplification followed by high-throughput sequencing. BPV coinfections were detected in the majority of the papilloma lesions, suggesting a genetic diverse papillomavirome in bovine teat warts. The findings support the underdetection of a wide range of BPV types and highlight the underestimated genetic diversity of BPV coinfections.