Metagenomic characterisation of avian parvoviruses and picornaviruses from Australian wild ducks

Abstract

Ducks can shed and disseminate viruses and thus play a role in cross-species transmission. In the current study, we detected and characterised various avian parvoviruses and picornaviruses from wild Pacific black ducks, Chestnut teals, Grey teals and Wood ducks sampled at multiple time points from a single location using metagenomics. We characterised 46 different avian parvoviruses belonging to three different genera Dependoparvovirus, Aveparvovirus and Chaphamaparvovirus, and 11 different avian picornaviruses tentatively belonging to four different genera Sicinivirus, Anativirus, Megrivirus and Aalivirus. Most of these viruses were genetically different from other currently known viruses f..