Identification of a Novel Papillomavirus Type (MfoiPV1) Associated with Acrochordon in a Stone Marten (Martes foina).
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kuhar U
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8146507 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The stone marten is a widely distributed mustelid in the Palaearctic region that exhibits variable habitat preferences in different parts of its range. The species is a Holocene immigrant from southwest Asia which, according to fossil remains, followed the expansion of the Neolithic farming cultures into Europe and possibly colonized the Iberian Peninsula during the Early Neolithic (ca. 7,000 years BP). However, the population genetic structure and historical biogeography of this generalist carnivore remains essentially unknown. In this study we have combined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing (621 bp) and microsatellite genotyping (23 polymorphic markers) to infer the population genetic structure of the stone marten within the Iberian Peninsula. The mtDNA data revealed low haplotype and nucleotide diversities and a lack of phylogeographic structure, most likely due to a recent colonization of the Iberian Peninsula by a few mtDNA lineages during the Early Neolithic. The microsatellite data set was analysed with a) spatial and non-spatial Bayesian individual-based clustering (IBC) approaches (STRUCTURE, TESS, BAPS and GENELAND), and b) multivariate methods [discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) and spatial principal component analysis (sPCA)]. Additionally, because isolation by distance (IBD) is a common spatial genetic pattern in mobile and continuously distributed species and it may represent a challenge to the performance of the above methods, the microsatellite data set was tested for its presence. Overall, the genetic structure of the stone marten in the Iberian Peninsula was characterized by a NE-SW spatial pattern of IBD, and this may explain the observed disagreement between clustering solutions obtained by the different IBC methods. However, there was significant indication for contemporary genetic structuring, albeit weak, into at least three different subpopulations. The detected subdivision could be attributed to the influence of the rivers Ebro, Tagus and Guadiana, suggesting that main watercourses in the Iberian Peninsula may act as semi-permeable barriers to gene flow in stone martens. To our knowledge, this is the first phylogeographic and population genetic study of the species at a broad regional scale. We also wanted to make the case for the importance and benefits of using and comparing multiple different clustering and multivariate methods in spatial genetic analyses of mobile and continuously distributed species.
| S-EPMC4519273 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula) is a medium-sized carnivore that is widely distributed across much of Asia and occupies an extensive variety of habitats. We reported a high-quality genome assembly of this organism that was generated using Oxford Nanopore and Hi-C technologies. The final genome sequences contained 215 contigs with a total size of 2,449.15 Mb and a contig N50 length of 68.60 Mb. Using Hi-C analysis, 2,419.20 Mb (98.78%) of the assembled sequences were anchored onto 21 linkage groups. Merqury evaluation suggested that the genome was 94.95% complete with a QV value of 43.75. Additionally, the genome was found to comprise approximately 39.74% repeat sequences, of which long interspersed elements (LINE) that accounted for 26.13% of the entire genome, were the most abundant. Of the 20,464 protein-coding genes, prediction and functional annotation was successfully performed for 20,322 (99.31%) genes. The high-quality, chromosome-level genome of the marten reported in this study will serve as a reference for future studies on genetic diversity, evolution, and conservation biology.
| S-EPMC10110515 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBaylisascaris devosi is an intestinal nematode found in several carnivores including fisher, wolverine, Beech marten, American marten and sable in different parts of the world, but this nematode has not been reported from Pine marten. Therefore, this study aimed to identify Baylisascaris isolated from a Pine marten in Iran using morphological and molecular approaches.MethodsSpecimens of B. devosi were collected from one road-killed Pine marten in northern Iran. Morphological features were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis and ion sectioning. The molecular characterization was carried out using partial Cox1, LSU rDNA and ITS-rDNA genes.ResultsThe nematodes isolated from the Pine marten were confirmed to be B. devosi based on the morphological features and the sequence of ribosomal and mitochondrial loci. X-ray scans (EDAX) were completed on gallium cut structures (papillae, eggs, male spike and mouth denticles) of B. devosi using a dual-beam scanning electron microscope. The male spike and mouth denticles had a high level of hardening elements (Ca, P, S), helping to explain the chemical nature and morphology of the worm. Based on these genetic marker analyses, our sequence had the greatest similarity with Russian B. devosi isolated from sable.ConclusionsIn this study, to our knowledge, the occurrence of B. devosi infection in Pine marten is reported for the first time. Molecular analysis showed that these three genes are suitable molecular markers for identification and inferring phylogenetic relationships of Baylisascaris species. Furthermore, the high divergence of Cox1 between Baylisascaris species indicates that Cox1 could be used for their phylogenetic and taxonomic studies.
| S-EPMC7791847 | biostudies-literature
Project description:North American martens are forest dependent, influenced by human activity, and climate vulnerable. They have long been managed and harvested throughout their range as the American marten (Martes americana). Recent work has expanded evidence for the original description of two species in North America - M. americana and the Pacific Coast marten, M. caurina - but the geographic boundary between these groups has not been described in detail. From 2010 to 2016 we deployed 734 multi-taxa winter bait stations across a 53,474 km2 study area spanning seven mountain ranges within the anticipated contact zone along the border of Canada and the United States. We collected marten hair samples and developed genotypes for 15 polymorphic microsatellite loci for 235 individuals, and 493 base-pair sequences of the mtDNA gene COI for 175 of those individuals. Both nuclear and mitochondrial genetic structure identified a sharp break across the Clark Fork Valley, United States with M. americana and M. caurina occurring north and south of the break, respectively. We estimated global effective population size (N e ) for each mountain range, clinal genetic neighborhood sizes (NS), calculated observed (H o ) and expected (H e ) heterozygosity, fixation index (F ST ), and clinal measures of allelic richness (Ar), H o , and inbreeding coefficient (F IS ). Despite substantial genetic structure, we detected hybridization along the fracture zone with both contemporary (nuclear DNA) and historic (mtDNA) gene flow. Marten populations in our study area are highly structured and the break across the fracture zone being the largest documented in North America (F ST range 0.21-0.34, mean = 0.27). With the exception of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, marten were well distributed across higher elevation portions of our sampling area. Clinal NS values were variable suggesting substantial heterogeneity in marten density and movement. For both M. americana and M. caurina, elevationaly dependent gene flow and high genetic population structure suggest that connectivity corridors will be important to ensuring long-term population persistence. Our study is an example of how a combination of global and clinal molecular data analyses can provide important information for natural resource management.
| S-EPMC7370953 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Anthropogenic landscape changes contributed to the reduction of availability of habitats to wild animals. Hence, the presence of wild terrestrial carnivores in urban and peri-urban sites has increased considerably over the years implying an increased risk of interspecies spillover of infectious diseases and the transmission of zoonoses. The present study provides a detailed characterisation of the health status of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), stone marten (Martes foina) and raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in their natural rural and peri-urban habitats in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany between November 2013 and January 2016 with focus on zoonoses and infectious diseases that are potentially threatening to other wildlife or domestic animal species. 79 red foxes, 17 stone martens and 10 raccoon dogs were collected from traps or hunts. In order to detect morphological changes and potential infectious diseases, necropsy and pathohistological work-up was performed. Additionally, in selected animals immunohistochemistry (influenza A virus, parvovirus, feline leukemia virus, Borna disease virus, tick-borne encephalitis, canine adenovirus, Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii and Listeria monocytogenes), next-generation sequencing, polymerase chain reaction (fox circovirus) and serum-neutralisation analysis (canine distemper virus) were performed. Furthermore, all animals were screened for fox rabies virus (immunofluorescence), canine distemper virus (immunohistochemistry) and Aujeszky's disease (virus cultivation). The most important findings included encephalitis (n = 16) and pneumonia (n = 20). None of the investigations revealed a specific cause for the observed morphological alterations except for one animal with an elevated serum titer of 1:160 for canine distemper. Animals displayed macroscopically and/or histopathologically detectable infections with parasites, including Taenia sp., Toxocara sp. and Alaria alata. In summary, wildlife predators carry zoonotic parasitic disease and suffer from inflammatory diseases of yet unknown etiology, possibly bearing infectious potential for other animal species and humans. This study highlights the value of monitoring terrestrial wildlife following the "One Health" notion, to estimate the incidence and the possible spread of zoonotic pathogens and to avoid animal to animal spillover as well as transmission to humans.
| S-EPMC5388480 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Coherent ecological networks (EN) composed of core areas linked by ecological corridors are being developed worldwide with the goal of promoting landscape connectivity and biodiversity conservation. However, empirical assessment of the performance of EN designs is critical to evaluate the utility of these networks to mitigate effects of habitat loss and fragmentation. Landscape genetics provides a particularly valuable framework to address the question of functional connectivity by providing a direct means to investigate the effects of landscape structure on gene flow. The goals of this study are (1) to evaluate the landscape features that drive gene flow of an EN target species (European pine marten), and (2) evaluate the optimality of a regional EN design in providing connectivity for this species within the Basque Country (North Spain). Using partial Mantel tests in a reciprocal causal modeling framework we competed 59 alternative models, including isolation by distance and the regional EN. Our analysis indicated that the regional EN was among the most supported resistance models for the pine marten, but was not the best supported model. Gene flow of pine marten in northern Spain is facilitated by natural vegetation, and is resisted by anthropogenic landcover types and roads. Our results suggest that the regional EN design being implemented in the Basque Country will effectively facilitate gene flow of forest dwelling species at regional scale.
| S-EPMC4199733 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMany mammalian species have experienced range contractions. Following a reduction in distribution that has resulted in apparently small and disjunct populations, the Humboldt marten (Martes caurina humboldtensis) was recently designated as federally Threatened and state Endangered. This subspecies of Pacific marten occurring in coastal Oregon and northern California, also known as coastal martens, appear unlike martens that occur in snow-associated regions in that vegetation associations appear to differ widely between Humboldt marten populations. We expected current distributions represent realized niches, but estimating factors associated with long-term occurrence was challenging for this rare and little-known species. Here, we assessed the predicted contemporary distribution of Humboldt martens and interpret our findings as hypotheses correlated with the subspecies' niche to inform strategic conservation actions.MethodsWe modeled Humboldt marten distribution using a maximum entropy (Maxent) approach. We spatially-thinned 10,229 marten locations collected from 1996-2020 by applying a minimum distance of 500-m between locations, resulting in 384 locations used to assess correlations of marten occurrence with biotic and abiotic variables. We independently optimized the spatial scale of each variable and focused development of model variables on biotic associations (e.g., hypothesized relationships with forest conditions), given that abiotic factors such as precipitation are largely static and not alterable within a management context.ResultsHumboldt marten locations were positively associated with increased shrub cover (salal (Gautheria shallon)), mast producing trees (e.g., tanoak, Notholithocarpus densiflorus), increased pine (Pinus sp.) proportion of total basal area, annual precipitation at home-range spatial scales, low and high amounts of canopy cover and slope, and cooler August temperatures. Unlike other recent literature, we found little evidence that Humboldt martens were associated with old-growth structural indices. This case study provides an example of how limited information on rare or lesser-known species can lead to differing interpretations, emphasizing the need for study-level replication in ecology. Humboldt marten conservation would benefit from continued survey effort to clarify range extent, population sizes, and fine-scale habitat use.
| S-EPMC8354145 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Coexistence of ecologically similar species relies on differences in one or more dimensions of their ecological niches, such as space, time and resources in diel and/or seasonal scales. However, niche differentiation may result from other mechanisms such as avoidance of high predation pressure, different adaptations or requirements of ecologically similar species. Stone marten (Martes foina) and pine marten (Martes martes) occur sympatrically over a large area in Central Europe and utilize similar habitats and food, therefore it is expected that their coexistence requires differentiation in at least one of their niche dimensions or the mechanisms through which these dimensions are used. To test this hypothesis, we used differences in the species activity patterns and habitat selection, estimated with a resource selection function (RSF), to predict the relative probability of occurrence of the two species within a large forest complex in the northern geographic range of the stone marten. Stone martens were significantly heavier, have a longer body and a better body condition than pine martens. We found weak evidence for temporal niche segregation between the species. Stone and pine martens were both primarily nocturnal, but pine martens were active more frequently during the day and significantly reduced the duration of activity during autumn-winter. Stone and pine martens utilized different habitats and almost completely separated their habitat niches. Stone marten strongly preferred developed areas and avoided meadows and coniferous or deciduous forests. Pine marten preferred deciduous forest and small patches covered by trees, and avoided developed areas and meadows. We conclude that complete habitat segregation of the two marten species facilitates sympatric coexistence in this area. However, spatial niche segregation between these species was more likely due to differences in adaptation to cold climate, avoidance of high predator pressure and/or food preferences by both species than competitive interaction between them.
| S-EPMC4596623 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Efforts to reduce the negative impacts of roads on wildlife may be hindered if individuals within the population vary widely in their responses to roads and mitigation strategies ignore this variability. This knowledge is particularly important for medium-sized carnivores as they are vulnerable to road mortality, while also known to use available road passages (e.g., drainage culverts) for safely crossing highways. Our goal in this study was to assess whether this apparently contradictory pattern of high road-kill numbers associated with a regular use of road passages is attributable to the variation in behavioral responses toward the highway between individuals. We investigated the responses of seven radio-tracked stone martens (Martes foina) to a highway by measuring their utilization distribution, response turning angles and highway crossing patterns. We compared the observed responses to simulated movement parameterized by the observed space use and movement characteristics of each individual, but naïve to the presence of the highway. Our results suggested that martens demonstrate a diversity of responses to the highway, including attraction, indifference, or avoidance. Martens also varied in their highway crossing patterns, with some crossing repeatedly at the same location (often coincident with highway passages). We suspect that the response variability derives from the individual's familiarity of the landscape, including their awareness of highway passage locations. Because of these variable yet potentially attributable responses, we support the use of exclusionary fencing to guide transient (e.g., dispersers) individuals to existing passages to reduce the road-kill risk.
| S-EPMC4114789 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Pacific martens (Martes caurina) are often associated with mature forests with complex structure for denning, resting, and efficient hunting. Nonetheless, a small isolated population of the Humboldt subspecies of Pacific martens (Martes caurina humboldtensis) occupies a narrow strip of young, coastal forest (< 70 years old) but not inland mature forest in the central Oregon Coast Range. We examined factors contributing to this unexpected distribution of martens by 1) analyzing marten diets using DNA metabarcoding to assess 90 scats, 2) using camera traps to assess differences in the relative abundances of prey, competitors, and predators across a coastal to inland gradient of vegetation types, and 3) quantifying differences in extent of fruit-producing shrubs and vegetation structure within vegetation types. Diets of martens were diverse (12, 10, and 3 species of birds, mammals, and amphibians respectively), and most fall and winter scats contained fruit. Voles, mice, and varied thrushes (Ixoreus naevius) were dominant prey items. Voles, mice, and most birds, but not varied thrushes, were more commonly observed in the coastal shrub-dominated forest than in inland forest. The coastal shrub-dominated forest had the highest diversity of vertebrates and potential prey overall. Bobcats (Lynx rufus), a key potential predator, were more commonly detected in inland forest. Of potential competitors, western spotted skunks (Spilogale gracilis) were more commonly detected in inland forest, with gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and raccoons (Procyon lotor) detected almost exclusively in coastal forests. Vegetation in coastal forests appears to provide, at least seasonally, more prey and fruit, and more overhead shrub cover compared with inland forest. Remaining plausible hypotheses for the restricted distribution of marten to coastal forests include increased prey, fruit, and overhead cover, and reduced predation risk from bobcats.
| S-EPMC6493723 | biostudies-literature