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1 April 2021 DETECTION OF TESTADENOVIRUSES AND ATADENOVIRUSES IN TORTOISES AND TURTLES IN EUROPE
Ekaterina Salzmann, Elisabeth Müller, Rachel E. Marschang
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Abstract

Adenoviruses have been regularly detected in squamate reptiles; evidence of infection in chelonians is described much less frequently. The adenoviruses found in turtles and tortoises have been genetically diverse, and have included members of the genus Siadenovirus, a proposed testadenovirus genus, and, in a single case, an Atadenovirus. In this study, samples from 949 chelonians submitted to a diagnostic laboratory were screened for the presence of adenoviruses by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting a portion of the DNA polymerase gene. Adenoviruses were detected in 22 (2.3%) chelonians of different species. Adenovirus-positive species included Hermann's tortoises (Testudo hermanni), spur-thighed tortoises (T. graeca), Horsfield's tortoises (T. horsfieldii), sliders (Trachemys spp.), box turtles (Terrapene spp.) and a black pond turtle (Geochlemys hamiltonii). Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of the obtained PCR products revealed that the majority of the detected adenoviruses (72.7%) cluster with members of the proposed testadenovirus genus, while the rest (27.3%) cluster with the atadenoviruses. This study significantly expands the known host range of both the proposed testadenoviruses and the atadenoviruses in different chelonian species and families.

Copyright 2021 by American Association of Zoo Veterinarians
Ekaterina Salzmann, Elisabeth Müller, and Rachel E. Marschang "DETECTION OF TESTADENOVIRUSES AND ATADENOVIRUSES IN TORTOISES AND TURTLES IN EUROPE," Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 52(1), 223-231, (1 April 2021). https://doi.org/10.1638/2020-0078
Accepted: 16 October 2020; Published: 1 April 2021
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