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Serological evidence of arboviruses and coccidia infecting horses in the Amazonian region of Brazil.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Arboviruses and protozoans can cause neurologic disorders in horses. In Brazilian Amazon, several horses presenting signs compatible with disorders caused by these infectious agents have been observed. OBJECTIVE:To contribute to the knowledge of this epidemiological picture, we sought to construct a serological diagnostic panel for neurotrophic infectious agents in local horses. MATERIAL AND METHODS:A total of 213 blood samples from horses were collected from 29 farms in three municipalities. Samples were evaluated and considered positive when they met the following criteria: titers ? 1:80 with the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) for apicomplexan protozoans; positive recombinant enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with subsequent titers ? 1:10 by the PRNt for viruses; and detection under direct microscopic examination for Trypanosoma evansi. RESULTS:No horses were found to be infected by T. evansi, and only two were infected Toxoplasma gondii and/or Neospora spp. The highest protozoan infection rate was observed for Sarcocystis neurona (40.3%; n = 86/213). Among the positive ELISA samples tested by the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT90), 92% (n = 76/83) were positive for St Louis Encephalitis virus, 43% (n = 6/14) were positive for West Nile virus and 33% (n = 16/48) were positive for Mayaro virus. Eighteen percent (n = 39/213) of horses were co-infected by S. neurona and at least one arbovirus, particularly SLEV and/or MAYV. CONCLUSION:Samples positive for SLEV associated with S. neurona, including samples from horses that had recovered from neurological signs were frequent, and must be considered when investigating the possible causes of neurological diseases in South Roraima horses.

SUBMITTER: Gomes FA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6907776 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Serological evidence of arboviruses and coccidia infecting horses in the Amazonian region of Brazil.

Gomes Fábio Alves FA Jansen Ana Maria AM Machado Rosângela Zacarias RZ Jesus Pena Hilda Fátima HF Fumagalli Marcílio Jorge MJ Silva Angélica A Alves Bruna Farias BF Roque André Luiz Rodrigues ALR Moraes Figueiredo Luiz Tadeu LT

PloS one 20191212 12

<h4>Background</h4>Arboviruses and protozoans can cause neurologic disorders in horses. In Brazilian Amazon, several horses presenting signs compatible with disorders caused by these infectious agents have been observed.<h4>Objective</h4>To contribute to the knowledge of this epidemiological picture, we sought to construct a serological diagnostic panel for neurotrophic infectious agents in local horses.<h4>Material and methods</h4>A total of 213 blood samples from horses were collected from 29 ...[more]

PMID: 31830142

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Project description:Mayaro (MAYV), Saint Louis encephalitis (SLEV), and Oropouche (OROV) viruses are neglected members of the three main families of arboviruses with medical relevance that circulate in the Amazon region as etiological agents of outbreaks of febrile illnesses in humans. As enveloped viruses, MAYV, SLEV, and OROV largely depend on their class II fusion proteins (E1, E, and Gc, respectively) for entry into the host cell. Since many aspects of the structural biology of such proteins remain unclear, the present study aimed at physicochemically characterizing them by an in silico approach. The complete amino acid sequences of MAYV E1, SLEV E, and OROV Gc proteins derived by conceptual translation from annotated coding regions in the reference sequence genome of the respective viruses were obtained from the NCBI Protein database in the FASTA format and then submitted to the ClustalO, Protcalc, Pepstats, Predator, Proscan, PCprof, Phyre2, and 3Drefine web servers for the determination of sequence identities, the estimation of residual properties, the prediction of secondary structures, the identification of potential post-translational modifications, the recognition of antigenic propensities, and the modeling/refinement of three-dimensional structures. Sequence identities were 20.44%, 18.82%, and 13.70% between MAYV/SLEV, SLEV/OROV, and MAYV/OROV fusion proteins, respectively. As for the residual properties, MAYV E1 and SLEV E proteins showed a predominance of the non-polar profile (56% and 55% of the residues, respectively), whereas the OROV Gc protein showed a predominance of the polar profile (52% of the residues). Regarding predicted secondary structures, MAYV E1 and SLEV E proteins showed fewer alpha-helices (16.51% and 15.17%, respectively) than beta-sheets (21.79% and 25.15%, respectively), while the opposite was observed in the OROV Gc protein (20.39% alpha-helices and 12.14% beta-sheets). Regarding post-translational modifications, MAYV E1, SLEV E, and OROV Gc proteins showed greater relative potential for protein kinase C phosphorylation, N-myristoylation, and casein kinase II phosphorylation, respectively. Finally, antigenic propensities were higher in the N-terminus half than in the C-terminus half of these three proteins, whose three-dimensional structures revealed three distinctive domains. In conclusion, MAYV E1 and SLEV E proteins were found to share more physicochemical characteristics with each other than the OROV Gc protein, although they are all grouped under the same class of viral fusion proteins.

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Serological evidence of arboviruses and coccidia infecting horses in the Amazonian region of Brazil.

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Serological evidence of arboviruses and coccidia infecting horses in the Amazonian region of Brazil.

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