Animal-sourced model of human norovirus infection predicted using environmental DNA metabarcoding analysis

Human noroviruses (HNVs) are one of the major causes of food poisoning and severe gastroenteritis. However, prevention and medical treatment of HNV disease is underdeveloped due to the lack of ecological understanding of the HNVs including their host organisms. We address the potential source animals of HNVs based on the environmental DNA metabarcoding analysis. By focusing on the HNV-epidemic area in Japan, we found several bird species of ducks, pochards, carrion crow, and swan showing significant cross-correlation with the HNV detection from cultured oysters. Humans and livestock mammals do not exhibit correlation with HNVs. These results suggest an avian-sourced, non-human- or sewage-mediated model of HNV infection. Unraveling the unknown host animals of pathogens like HNV facilitates artificial propagation of the pathogen, leading to vaccine and small molecule drug development.

人类诺如病毒（Human noroviruses, HNVs）是引发食物中毒与重症胃肠炎的主要病原体之一。然而，由于对包括宿主在内的人类诺如病毒的生态学认知匮乏，此类疾病的预防与临床治疗手段仍发展滞后。本研究依托环境DNA元条形码（metabarcoding）分析技术，探究了人类诺如病毒的潜在传染源动物。本研究聚焦日本的人类诺如病毒流行区域，发现鸭类、潜鸭、小嘴乌鸦以及天鹅等多种鸟类，与养殖牡蛎中检测到的人类诺如病毒存在显著的交叉相关性。人类与家养哺乳动物则未表现出与人类诺如病毒的相关性。上述研究结果提示，人类诺如病毒的感染传播存在以鸟类为传染源、而非人类或污水介导的潜在模式。阐明人类诺如病毒这类病原体的未知宿主，将有助于实现该病原体的人工增殖，进而推动疫苗与小分子药物的研发进程。