Molecular characterisation of simian adenoviruses

Abstract

Among primates, adenoviruses (AdVs) were identified in humans, apes (chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas), several species of Old World monkeys (OWMs) and a few species of New World monkeys (NWMs). Based on molecular characterization, we propose a species classification for the (serotyped) OWM AdV prototypes (SAdV-1 to 20). Majority of these SAdVs was successfully propagated on Vero cells. Based on partial sequences of the IVa2, DNA-dependent DNA polymerase (pol), penton base and hexon genes acquired by consensus PCR from all non-sequenced SAdV types, we found most of them to belong to one or the other of the two earlier accepted species that contain earlier studied monkey AdV serotypes. Species Human mastadenovirus G has been established for HAdV-52, but SAdV-1, -2, -7, -11, -12, and -15 also belong to it.