Next-Generation Sequencing in Practical Wildlife Disease Investigation: Metagenomic Insights into European Bison and Gazelle Mortality and Morbidity Events.
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Virology and Viral Animal Diseases, National Veterinary Research Institute, Partyzantów 57, 24-100 Puławy, Poland.
- 2Department of Evolutionary and Physiological Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Białystok, K. Ciołkowskiego 1J, 15-245 Białystok, Poland.
- 3"Medicor" Veterinary Service, Zwycięstwa 26B, 15-703 Białystok, Poland.
- 4Zamość Zoological Garden, Szczebrzeska 12, 22-400 Zamość, Poland.
- 5Veterinary Clinic, Jana Kilinskiego 3A, 43-200 Pszczyna, Poland.
Abstract
Wildlife disease investigations require diagnostic methods capable of detecting diverse and previously unrecognized pathogens. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was applied to samples from three Dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas osiris) affected by sudden mortality and four European bison (Bison bonasus) with respiratory disease or necrotic balanoposthitis (NBP). No dominant bacterial species was detected in gazelles. In European bison, respiratory disease was associated with Pasteurella multocida, whereas NBP samples were dominated by Porphyromonas levii and other anaerobes. Dorcas gazelle samples contained mainly Retroviridae-related sequences of undetermined pathogenic significance. Parapoxvirus-related annotations were not confirmed by PCR, suggesting non-specific or host-related sequence similarity. Macavirus-related sequences were consistent with previous PCR findings and enabled reconstruction of an approximately 51.1 kb fragment of a divergent gammaherpesvirus genome. These findings demonstrate the value of mNGS for wildlife disease investigation and genomic surveillance, while emphasizing the need for independent validation of metagenomic taxonomic assignments.
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BibTeX
@article{socha2026nextgeneration,
title = {{Next-Generation Sequencing in Practical Wildlife Disease Investigation: Metagenomic Insights into European Bison and Gazelle Mortality and Morbidity Events.}},
author = {Wojciech Socha and Michał K Krzysiak and Elżbieta Moniuszko and Paweł Kulik and Jarosław Tomana and Magdalena Larska},
journal = {Viruses},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/v18101118},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42944039},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Next-Generation Sequencing in Practical Wildlife Disease Investigation: Metagenomic Insights into European Bison and Gazelle Mortality and Morbidity Events.
AU - Wojciech Socha
AU - Michał K Krzysiak
AU - Elżbieta Moniuszko
AU - Paweł Kulik
AU - Jarosław Tomana
AU - Magdalena Larska
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Viruses
DO - 10.3390/v18101118
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42944039
AB - Wildlife disease investigations require diagnostic methods capable of detecting diverse and previously unrecognized pathogens. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was applied to samples from three Dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas osiris) affected by sudden mortality and four European bison (Bison bonasus) with respiratory disease or necrotic balanoposthitis (NBP). No dominant bacterial species was detected in gazelles. In European bison, respiratory disease was associated with Pasteurella multocida, whereas NBP samples were dominated by Porphyromonas levii and other anaerobes. Dorcas gazelle samples contained mainly Retroviridae-related sequences of undetermined pathogenic significance. Parapoxvirus-related annotations were not confirmed by PCR, suggesting non-specific or host-related sequence similarity. Macavirus-related sequences were consistent with previous PCR findings and enabled reconstruction of an approximately 51.1 kb fragment of a divergent gammaherpesvirus genome. These findings demonstrate the value of mNGS for wildlife disease investigation and genomic surveillance, while emphasizing the need for independent validation of metagenomic taxonomic assignments.
SN - 1999-4915
ER -