Diverse Viral Pathogens in Australian Canines: Limited Geographic Structure and the First Detection of an RNA Virus in Dingoes

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Mifsud, Jonathon CO
Harvey, Erin
Van Brussel, Kate
Olsson, Annabelle
Pitcher, Benjamin J
Hall, Jane
Fenton, Heather
Alting, Brendan F
Sadiq, Sabrina
Holmes, Edward C
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2025
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Abstract

Viruses impose a substantial disease burden on dogs and the close relationship between dogs and humans may facilitate zoonotic disease emergence. Australia’s geographic isolation, strict biosecurity measures, and native dingo populations present a unique model for understanding the spread and evolution of canine viruses. However, aside from a few well-characterised pathogens, genomic data are scarce for many common dog viruses, limiting our understanding of their evolution and disease ecology. Using a metatranscriptomic approach we identified the viruses in dogs and dingoes from various geographical locations across mainland Australia and sample types, revealing 86 vertebrate-associated viruses belonging to 16 distinct species, including a new vesivirus-like species. Many of the viruses identified here have not previously been sequenced in Australia. We identified important dog pathogens associated with canine infectious respiratory disease syndrome—such as canine pneumovirus, canine herpesvirus, and canine respiratory coronavirus—and gastroenteritis, including canine parvovirus, canine coronavirus, and rotavirus A. The sequences of Australian canine viruses often occupied multiple distinct clades phylogenetically and had little geographic structure, suggesting multiple virus introductions and subsequent spread across the country. Notably, we identified the first RNA virus—rotavirus A—in a dingo. This virus was phylogenetically distinct from dog-associated rotavirus A sequences and more closely related to viruses found in humans and bats, indicative of the past cross-species transmission of a reassortant virus into dingoes, and shows dingoes and domestic dogs may have distinct viromes. Our findings expand the knowledge of viral diversity in Australian canines, improving our understanding of viral movement into and within Australia, as well as the potential zoonotic risks associated with dogs and dingoes.

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Virus Evolution

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© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advance online version.

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Veterinary virology

Veterinary sciences

Veterinary epidemiology

Veterinary immunology

Microbiology

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Mifsud, JCO; Harvey, E; Van Brussel, K; Olsson, A; Pitcher, BJ; Hall, J; Fenton, H; Alting, BF; Sadiq, S; Holmes, EC, Diverse Viral Pathogens in Australian Canines: Limited Geographic Structure and the First Detection of an RNA Virus in Dingoes, Virus Evolution, 2025, pp. veaf042

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