Caracterização do viroma fecal do sauim-de-coleira, Saguinus bicolor (Primates: Callitrichidae), de vida livre

Abstract

Anthropogenic disturbances in natural environments are leading to several changes in the global ecology of diseases, with emphasis on those of viral origin. The study of viruses in wild fauna is of paramount importance. Several viral diseases of public health concern have zoonotic origin, and primates are important reservoirs. With the advent of new technologies such as massive sequencing (HTS - high throughput sequencing), viromes of several species of wild animals are being characterized, however, there are still few works with wild Brazilian primates. The pied tamarin (Saguinus bicolor), is a Critically Endangered primate endemic to the Amazon. occurring in small forest fragments with intense urbanizarion and habitat loss. It also occurs in syntopy with other primate species, such as the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus). In this view, it is important to know the composition of the viral microbiota of these animals, as an important early surveillance strategy in the context of unique health and species conservation. The goals of this study are: (a) To investigate the fecal virome of Saguinus bicolor from forest fragments in the city of Manaus, central Amazon; (b) To compare the virome richness and diversity of a group of Saguinus bicolor and a group of Saimiri sciureus, inserted in the same forest fragment. After collecting the fecal content of nine groups of free-living pied tamarins from Manaus, samples from each group were pooled, followed by massive sequencing and the use of two bioinformatics methods (BLASTx and Kraken ) for characterization of the virome at the level of viral families, with emphasis on viruses of importance to mammals. The data generated by Kraken was used for normalization. The bioinformatics methods showed great divergence. Kraken identified the greatest diversity of viruses at the level of viral families, including those of importance to mammals (29 families from the raw data), while BLASTx identified only five families. The data generated by Kraken showed that many of the viral communities were distinct between groups, suggesting that the virome composition of these animals may be related to several variables, from individual to environmental. In the next chapter, rectal smears and fecal samples were collected from a group of Saguinus bicolor and a group of Saimiri sciureus, followed by massive sequencing and characterization of the virome at the level of virus families of importance to mammals. The group of pied tamarins showed a greater richness of viral families of mammals’ importance., presenting, after normalization of the data, a total of 18 families, while the squirrel monkey had 16 families. 12 viral families were shared with both species. Fecal material showed greater richness when compared to rectal in the squirrel monkey. The viromes of the two primate species showed a wide variety of viral families of importance for mammalian infections. Further research on these viral families are necessary to verify whether the viruses that are occurring in these animals are of pathogenic importance for the conservation of the species and for public health.