TY - JOUR

T1 - Inter-vendor variance of enteric eukaryotic DNA viruses in specific pathogen free C57BL/6N mice

AU - Rasmussen, Torben Sølbeck

AU - Jakobsen, Rasmus Riemer

AU - Castro-Mejía, Josué L.

AU - Kot, Witold

AU - Thomsen, Allan Randrup

AU - Vogensen, Finn Kvist

AU - Nielsen, Dennis Sandris

AU - Hansen, Axel Kornerup

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The laboratory mouse strain C57BL/6 is widely used as an animal model for various applications. It is becoming increasingly clear that the bacterial enteric community highly influences the phenotype. Eukaryotic viruses represent a sparsely investigated member of the enteric microbiome that might also affect the phenotype. We here investigated the presence of enteric eukaryotic DNA viruses (EDVs) in specific pathogen-free (SPF) C57BL/6N mice purchased from three vendors upon arrival and after being fed a low-fat diet (LFD) or high-fat diet (HFD). We detected genetic fragments of EDVs belonging to the viral families of Herpes-, Mimi-, Baculo- and Phycodnaviridae represented by two genera; Chlorovirus and Prasinovirus. The EDVs were detected in the mice upon arrival and persisted for 13 weeks. However, these signals of EDVs were only detected at notable levels in mice fed LFD from 2 out of 3 vendors, which suggested that the enteric composition of these EDVs were affected by both vendor (p < 0.003) and different dietary regimes (p < 0.013). This highlights the need of additional studies assessing the potential function of these EDVs that may influence the mouse phenotype and the reproducibility of animal studies using this C57BL/6N substrain.

AB - The laboratory mouse strain C57BL/6 is widely used as an animal model for various applications. It is becoming increasingly clear that the bacterial enteric community highly influences the phenotype. Eukaryotic viruses represent a sparsely investigated member of the enteric microbiome that might also affect the phenotype. We here investigated the presence of enteric eukaryotic DNA viruses (EDVs) in specific pathogen-free (SPF) C57BL/6N mice purchased from three vendors upon arrival and after being fed a low-fat diet (LFD) or high-fat diet (HFD). We detected genetic fragments of EDVs belonging to the viral families of Herpes-, Mimi-, Baculo- and Phycodnaviridae represented by two genera; Chlorovirus and Prasinovirus. The EDVs were detected in the mice upon arrival and persisted for 13 weeks. However, these signals of EDVs were only detected at notable levels in mice fed LFD from 2 out of 3 vendors, which suggested that the enteric composition of these EDVs were affected by both vendor (p < 0.003) and different dietary regimes (p < 0.013). This highlights the need of additional studies assessing the potential function of these EDVs that may influence the mouse phenotype and the reproducibility of animal studies using this C57BL/6N substrain.

KW - Animal model reproducibility

KW - Chlorovirus

KW - Eukaryotic DNA viruses

KW - Gut microbiome

KW - Specific pathogen free mice

KW - Vendor effect

KW - Virome

U2 - 10.1016/j.rvsc.2021.01.022

DO - 10.1016/j.rvsc.2021.01.022

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33548686

AN - SCOPUS:85100397702

VL - 136

SP - 1

EP - 5

JO - Research in Veterinary Science

JF - Research in Veterinary Science

SN - 0034-5288

ER -