Metagenomic profiling of viral and microbial communities from the pox lesions of lumpy skin disease virus and sheeppox virus-infected hosts

Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2024. Vol. 11. Article 1321202.

Sharko F., Mazloum A., Krotova A., Byadovskaya O., Prokhvatilova L., Chvala I., Zolotikov U., Alexandra D. Kozlova

It has been recognized that capripoxvirus infections have a strong cutaneous tropism with the manifestation of skin lesions in the form of nodules and scabs in the respective hosts, followed by necrosis and sloughing off. Considering that the skin microbiota is a complex community of commensal bacteria, fungi and viruses that are influenced by infections leading to pathological states, there is no evidence on how the skin microbiome is affected during capripoxvirus pathogenesis.

The analysis revealed a high degree of variability in bacterial community structures across affected skin samples, indicating the importance of specific commensal microorganisms colonizing individual hosts. The most common and abundant bacteria found in scab samples were Fusobacterium necrophorum, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Helcococcus ovis and Trueperella pyogenes, irrespective of host. Bacterial reads belonging to the genera Moraxella, Mannheimia, Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus and Micrococcus were identified.

Keywords: metagenomics