Phylogenomic analysis of the complete sequence of a gastroenteritis-associated cetacean adenovirus (bottlenose dolphin adenovirus 1) reveals a high degree of genetic divergence

Adenoviruses have a wide host range and are common pathogens in vertebrates but have only rarely been detected and correlated with disease in cetaceans. A novel adenovirus, named Bottlenose dolphin adenovirus 1 (BdAdV-1), was detected in captive bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) suffering from self-limiting gastroenteritis. Adenovirus was identified both in feces and in supernatant from infected HeLa cells. The complete genome of BdAdV-1 was recovered from data generated by MiSeq and the sequence was validated by Sanger sequencing. The genome is 34 080 bp and has an ITR of 220 bp. A total of 30 coding sequences were identified and 26 were functionally annotated. Among the unusual features of this genome, we observed three hypothetical proteins and an E3 region without any similarity with known once. The fiber protein has not more than 25% identity with adenoviruses described in other species.