# Novel Gammapapillomavirus type in the nasal cavity of a wild red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles)

## TL;DR

A new type of papillomavirus was found in the nasal cavity of a wild red colobus monkey in Uganda, expanding our understanding of these viruses in nonhuman primates.

## Contribution

The discovery of PtepPV1, the first nonhuman primate Gammapapillomavirus in the nasal cavity, expands the host range and biological characteristics of these viruses.

## Key findings

- PtepPV1 has a genome of 6576 bases with canonical early and late ORFs typical of gammapapillomaviruses.
- The virus shares 81.0% similarity with HPV-mSK_118 in the L1 gene at the amino acid level.
- PtepPV1 exhibits genomic features linked to high-risk oncogenic papillomaviruses, such as E7 gene motifs.

## Abstract

Papillomaviruses (PVs) are double-stranded, circular, epitheliotropic DNA viruses causing benign warts (papillomas) or inducing dysplasia that can progress to cancer. Although they have been identified in all vertebrate taxa, most classified types are human PVs (HPVs); relatively little is known about PVs in other species. Here we characterize a novel Gammapapillomavirus type, PtepPV1, from a nasal swab of a wild red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. The virus has a genome of 6576 bases, encoding the seven canonical early (E) ORFs (E6, E7, E1, E2, E4, E1^E4 and E8^E2) and two late (L) ORFs (L1 and L2) of the gammapapillomaviruses, and is 81.0% similar to HPV-mSK_118, detected in a cutaneous wart from an immunocompromised human patient, in the L1 gene at the amino acid level. Alphapapillomaviruses (genus Alphapapillomavirus) cause anogenital carcinomas such as cervical cancer and have been described previously in several nonhuman primates. However, the first gammapapillomavirus (genus Gammapapillomavirus), which cause transient cutaneous infections, was not described until 2019 in a healthy rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) genital swab. The new virus from red colobus, PtepPV1, has many genomic features encoded by high-risk oncogenic PVs, such as the E7 gene LXSXE and CXXC motifs, suggesting potential for pRb and zinc-finger binding, respectively. To our knowledge, PtepPV1 is also the first reported nonhuman primate PV found in the nasal cavity. PtepPV1 expands the known host range, geographical distribution, tissue tropism and biological characteristics of nonhuman primate PVs.