Feline bocaviruses found in Thailand have undergone genetic recombination for their evolutions.

Abstract

Feline bocaviruses (FBoVs) have been discovered for a decade and are often detected in feces, possibly associated with diarrhea in cats. Studies on FBoV evolution remain limited and have mainly focused on prevalence and genetic characterization. Although genetic recombination serves as a potential mechanism in bocavirus evolution, research on this process for FBoVs has been scarce. In this study, we characterized 19 complete coding sequences of FBoVs obtained from Thai cats, revealing that FBoV-1, -2, and -3 were endemic in Thailand. Genetic characterizations showed that most Thai FBoVs were closely related to previously detected strains in Thailand and China. Recombination analyses indicated intragenic, intraspecies recombination in all FBoV species, with recombination breakpoints commonly found in the NP1 and VP1/2 genes, highlighting these genes may be hotspots for FBoV recombination. However, no interspecies recombination was detected. Selective pressure analysis of various FBoV genes revealed that these viruses underwent purifying selection. Although the VP1/2 gene of all FBoV species was under the strongest negative selection pressure, positive selection sites were only found in FBoV-1 and FBoV-3. This study is the first to identify natural recombination in FBoV-2 and FBoV-3 and provides evidence that genetic recombination is a potential driver of FBoV evolutions. Additionally, this study offers up-to-date information on the genetic characteristics, evolutionary dynamics, and selective pressure status of FBoVs, which should be continuously monitored.