Freshwater mussels show elevated viral richness and intensity during a mortality event

Jordan Richard; Eric Leis; Christopher D. Dunn; Cleyo Harris; Rose Agbalog; Lewis J. Campbell; Susan Knowles; Diane L. Waller; Joel G. Putnam; Tony Goldberg

doi:10.3390/v14122603

Freshwater mussels show elevated viral richness and intensity during a mortality event

Viruses

By: Jordan Richard, Eric Leis, Christopher D. Dunn, Cleyo Harris, Rose Agbalog, Lewis J. Campbell, Susan Knowles, Diane L. Waller, Joel G. Putnam, and Tony Goldberg

https://doi.org/10.3390/v14122603

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Abstract

Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are among the world’s most imperiled taxa, but the relationship between freshwater mussel mortality events and infectious disease is largely unstudied. We surveyed viromes of a widespread and abundant species (mucket, Actinonaias ligamentina; syn: Ortmanniana ligamentina) experiencing a mortality event of unknown etiology in the Huron River, Michigan, in 2019–2020 and compared them to viromes from mucket in a healthy population in the St. Croix River, Wisconsin and a population from the Clinch River, Virginia and Tennessee, where a mortality event was affecting the congeneric pheasantshell (Actinonaias pectorosa; syn: Ortmanniana pectorosa) population. We identified 38 viruses, most of which were associated with mussels collected during the Huron River mortality event. Viral richness and cumulative viral read depths were significantly higher in moribund mussels from the Huron River than in healthy controls from each of the three populations. Our results demonstrate significant increases in the number and intensity of viral infections for freshwater mussels experiencing mortality events, whereas individuals from healthy populations have a substantially reduced virome comprising a limited number of species at low viral read depths.

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Additional publication details
Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	Freshwater mussels show elevated viral richness and intensity during a mortality event
Series title	Viruses
DOI	10.3390/v14122603
Volume	14
Issue	12
Year Published	2022
Language	English
Publisher	MDPI
Contributing office(s)	Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Description	2603, 13 p.
Country	United States
State	Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin
Other Geospatial	Clinch River, Huron River, Saint Croix River
Google Analytic Metrics	Metrics page