Genomic evolution of avian polyomaviruses with a focus on budgerigar fledgling disease virus Kazsab-2021

Gammapolyomaviruses can cause inflammatory illnesses in birds. We studied avian polyomavirus genome evolution and selection limitation (APyVs). Goose haemorrhagic polyomavirus (GHPV) evolves more slowly than budgerigar fledgling disease virus (BFDV), finch polyomavirus (FPyV), and canary polyomavirus (CaPyV) (1.39 10-4 s/s/y, 2.63 10-4 s/s/y, and 1.41 10-4 s/s/y, respectively). In general, purifying selection acts on APyV protein coding areas, although positive Darwinian selection was also anticipated in a few places (e.g., in the large tumor antigen coding region of BFDV and GHPV and in the capsid protein sequences of BFDV). These aa modifications are unclear. Overall, incidental hosts and reservoir species are needed to properly understand APyV genomic adaptations.

Kaszab, E., Marton, S., Erdélyi, K., Bányai, K., & Fehér, E. (2021). Genomic evolution of avian polyomaviruses with a focus on budgerigar fledgling disease virus. Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases, 90, 104762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104762