Publication Database

Equine behavioral enrichment toys as tools for non-invasive recovery of viral and host DNA (2017)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

Seeber, Peter

Soilemetzidou, Sanatana

East, Marion

Walzer, Chris

Greenwood, Alex (WE 5)

Quelle

Zoo Biology

Bandzählung: 36

Heftzählung: 5

Seiten: 341

ISSN: 0733-3188

Kontakt

Institut für Virologie

Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 51833
virologie@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Direct collection of samples from wildlife can be difficult and sometimes impossible.
Non-invasive remote sampling for the purpose ofDNAextraction is a potential tool for
monitoring the presence of wildlife at the individual level, and for identifying the
pathogens shed by wildlife. Equine herpesviruses (EHV) are common pathogens of
equids that can be fatal if transmitted to other mammals. Transmission usually occurs
by nasal aerosol discharge from virus-shedding individuals. The aim of this study was to
validate a simple, non-invasive method to trackEHVshedding in zebras and to establish
an efficient protocol for genotyping individual zebras from environmental DNA
(eDNA). A commercially available horse enrichment toy was deployed in captive
Grévy's, mountain, and plains zebra enclosures and swabbed after 4–24 hr. Using
eDNA extracted from these swabs four EHV strains (EHV-1, EHV-7, wild ass
herpesvirus and zebra herpesvirus) were detected by PCR and confirmed by
sequencing, and 12 of 16 zebras present in the enclosures were identified as having
interacted with the enrichment toy by mitochondrial DNA amplification and
sequencing. We conclude that, when direct sampling is difficult or prohibited, noninvasive
sampling of eDNA can be a useful tool to determine the genetics of individuals
or populations and for detecting pathogen shedding in captive wildlife.