Novel polyomaviruses of nonhuman primates: genetic and serological predictors for the existence of multiple unknown polyomaviruses within the human population.

Polyomaviruses are a family of small non-enveloped DNA viruses that encode oncogenes and have been associated, to greater or lesser extent, with human disease and cancer. Currently, twelve polyomaviruses are known to circulate within the human population. To further examine the diversity of human polyomaviruses, we have utilized a combinatorial approach comprised of initial degenerate primer-based PCR identification and phylogenetic analysis of nonhuman primate (NHP) polyomavirus species, followed by polyomavirus-specific serological analysis of human sera. Using this approach we identified twenty novel NHP polyomaviruses: nine in great apes (six in chimpanzees, two in gorillas and one in orangutan), five in Old World monkeys and six in New World monkeys. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that only four of the nine chimpanzee polyomaviruses (six novel and three previously identified) had known close human counterparts. To determine whether the remaining chimpanzee polyomaviruses had potential human counterparts, the major viral capsid proteins (VP1) of four chimpanzee polyomaviruses were expressed in E. coli for use as antigens in enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Human serum/plasma samples from both Côte d'Ivoire and Germany showed frequent seropositivity for the four viruses. Antibody pre-adsorption-based ELISA excluded the possibility that reactivities resulted from binding to known human polyomaviruses. Together, these results support the existence of additional polyomaviruses circulating within the human population that are genetically and serologically related to existing chimpanzee polyomaviruses

Factors influencing bacterial microbiome composition in a wild non-human primate community in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire

Microbiomes impact a variety of processes including a host’s ability to access nutrients and maintain health. While host species differences in microbiomes have been described across ecosystems, little is known about how microbiomes assemble, particularly in the ecological and social contexts in which they evolved. We examined gut microbiome composition in nine sympatric wild non-human primate (NHP) species. Despite sharing an environment and interspecific interactions, individuals harbored unique and persistent microbiomes influenced by host species, social group, and parentage, but surprisingly not by social relationships among members of a social group. We found a branching order of host-species networks constructed using the composition of their microbiomes as characters, which was incongruent with known NHP phylogenetic relationships, with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) sister to colobines, upon which they regularly prey. In contrast to phylogenetic clustering found in all monkey microbiomes, chimpanzee microbiomes were unique in that they exhibited patterns of phylogenetic overdispersion. This reflects unique ecological processes impacting microbiome composition in chimpanzees and future studies will elucidate the aspects of chimpanzee ecology, life history, and physiology that explain their unique microbiome community structure. Our study of contemporaneous microbiomes of all sympatric diurnal NHP in an ecosystem highlights the diverse dispersal routes shaping these complex communities