Diversity of sea star-associated densoviruses and transcribed endogenized viral elements of densovirus origin. viral metagenome

The primary interest of sea star densoviruses, specifically SSaDV, has been their association with Sea Star Wasting Syndrome (SSWS), a disease that has decimated sea star populations across the west coast of the United States. The association of SSaDV to SSWS was originally drawn from metagenomic analyses concluding that it was (1) the only densovirus present in the metagenomic data and (2) the most likely viral candidate based on representation in symptomatic sea stars. We reassessed the original metagenomic data with additional genomic datasets and find that SSaDV was one of ten densoviruses present in the original dataset and was no more represented in symptomatic sea stars than in asymptomatic sea stars. Instead, SSaDV appears to be a widespread generalist virus that exists among a large diversity of densoviruses present in sea star populations.