Diverse anelloviruses identified in wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada).

Anelloviruses are circular single stranded DNA viruses that are highly prevalent among humans and other mammal and avian hosts, with persistent infections enduring throughout the lifespan without causing disease. Investigating these viruses in non-human primate hosts can offer a phylogenetic perspective on anellovirus-primate evolutionary dynamics, and studying wild populations can help build a translational framework for natural host-virus interactions. Here we report six complete anellovirus genomes identified in wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada), a primate endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands. Anellovirus genomes were identified in blood samples taken from geladas in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. The six genomes represented four new anellovirus species-level lineages, and phylogenetic analysis of the ORF1 (capsid protein) sequences revealed that these anelloviruses cluster with other viruses in the Alphatorquevirus genus. As the first report of complete anellovirus genomes in geladas, this study expands the known host range of the Alphatorquevirus genus and anelloviruses more broadly, adds to our knowledge of the gelada virome, and contributes to our understanding of the shared primate virome.