Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Dec;593(24):3660-3673.
doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13687. Epub 2019 Dec 9.

Adenoviruses across the animal kingdom: a walk in the zoo

Balázs Harrach  1 , Zoltán L Tarján  1 , Mária Benkő  1
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Adenoviruses across the animal kingdom: a walk in the zoo

Balázs Harrach et al. FEBS Lett. 2019 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Adenoviruses (AdVs) infect representatives of numerous species from almost every major vertebrate class, albeit their incidence shows great variability. AdVs infecting birds, reptiles, and bats are the most common and diverse, whereas only one AdV has been so far isolated both from fish and amphibians. The family Adenoviridae is divided into five genera, each corresponding to an independent evolutionary lineage that supposedly coevolved with its respective vertebrate hosts. Members of genera Mastadenovirus and Aviadenovirus seem to infect exclusively mammals and birds, respectively. The genus Ichtadenovirus includes the single known AdV from fish. The majority of AdVs in the genus Atadenovirus originated from squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes), but also certain mammalian and avian AdVs are classified within this genus. The genus Siadenovirus contains the only AdV isolated from frog, along with numerous avian AdVs. In turtles, members of a sixth AdV lineage have been discovered, pending official recognition as an independent genus. The most likely scenario for AdV evolution includes long-term cospeciation with the hosts, as well as occasional switches between closely or, rarely, more distantly related hosts.

Keywords: Adenoviridae; Atadenovirus; Aviadenovirus; Ichtadenovirus; Mastadenovirus; Siadenovirus; Testadenovirus; adenovirus; animal viruses; coevolution.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Harrach B, Benkő M, Both GW, Brown M, Davison AJ, Echavarría M, Hess M, Jones MS, Kajon A, Lehmkuhl HD et al. (2011) Family Adenoviridae. In Virus Taxonomy: Classification and Nomenclature of Viruses. Ninth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (King AMQ, Adams MJ, Carstens EB and Lefkowitz EJ, eds), pp. 125-141. Elsevier, San Diego.
    1. Doszpoly A, Harrach B, LaPatra S and Benkő M (2019) Unconventional gene arrangement and content revealed by full genome analysis of the white sturgeon adenovirus, the single member of the genus Ichtadenovirus. Infect Genet Evol 75, 103976.
    1. Benkő M and Harrach B (2003) Molecular evolution of adenoviruses. In Adenoviruses: Model and Vectors in Virus-Host Interactions. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology. Vol. 272 (Doerfler W and Böhm P, eds), pp. 3-35. Springer, Berlin.
    1. Doszpoly A, Wellehan JFX, Childress AL, Tarján ZL, Kovács ER, Harrach B and Benkő M (2013) Partial characterization of a new adenovirus lineage discovered in testudinoid turtles. Infect Genet Evol 17, 106-112.
    1. Wellehan JFX, Johnson AJ, Harrach B, Benkő M, Pessier AP, Johnson CM, Garner MM, Childress A and Jacobson ER (2004) Detection and analysis of six lizard adenoviruses by consensus primer PCR provides further evidence of a reptilian origin for the atadenoviruses. J Virol 78, 13366-13369.

Publication types

Associated data

LinkOut - more resources