%0 Journal Article %A Pfaff, Florian %A Schulze, Christoph %A König, Patricia %A Franzke, Kati %A Bock, Sabine %A Hlinak, Andreas %A Kämmerling, Jens %A Ochs, Andreas %A Schüle, André %A Mettenleiter, Thomas C. %A Höper, Dirk %A Beer, Martin %T A novel alphaherpesvirus associated with fatal diseases in banded Penguins %D 2017 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 98 %N 1 %P 89-95 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.000698 %K zoo animals %K Alphaherpesvirinae %K fatal disease %K high-throughput nucleotide sequencing %K penguins %K phylogeny %I Microbiology Society, %X A novel avian alphaherpesvirus, preliminarily designated sphenicid alphaherpesvirus 1 (SpAHV-1), has been independently isolated from juvenile Humboldt and African penguins (Spheniscus humboldti and Spheniscus demersus) kept in German zoos suffering from diphtheroid oropharyngitis/laryngotracheitis and necrotizing enteritis (collectively designated as penguin-diphtheria-like disease). High-throughput sequencing was used to determine the complete genome sequences of the first two SpAHV-1 isolates. SpAHV-1 comprises a class D genome with a length of about 164 kbp, a G+C content of 45.6 mol% and encodes 86 predicted ORFs. Taxonomic association of SpAHV-1 to the genus Mardivirus was supported by gene content clustering and phylogenetic analysis of herpesvirus core genes. The presented results imply that SpAHV-1 could be the primary causative agent of penguin-diphtheria-like fatal diseases in banded penguins. These results may serve as a basis for the development of diagnostic tools in order to investigate similar cases of penguin diphtheria in wild and captive penguins. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/jgv.0.000698