Cervidpoxvirus is one of the more recently designated genera within the subfamily Chordopoxvirinae, with Deerpox virus (DPV) as the only recognized species to date. In this study, the authors describe spontaneous disease and infection in the North American moose (Alces americanus) by a novel Cervidpoxvirus, here named Moosepox virus (MPV). Three 4-month-old moose calves developed a multifocal subacute-to-chronic, necrotizing, suppurative-to-granulomatous dermatitis that affected the face and the extremities. Ultrastructurally, all stages of MPV morphogenesis—that is, crescents, spherical immature particles, mature particles, and enveloped mature virus—were observed in skin tissue. In vitro infection with MPV confirmed that its morphogenesis was similar to that of the prototype vaccinia virus. The entire coding region, including 170 putative genes of this MPV, was sequenced and annotated. The sequence length was 164,258 bp with 98.5% nucleotide identity with DPV (strain W-1170-84) based on the whole genome. The genome of the study virus was distinct from that of the reference strain (W-1170-84) in certain genes, including the CD30-like protein (83.9% nucleotide, 81.6% amino acid), the endothelin precursor (73.2% nucleotide including some indels, 51.4% amino acid), and major histocompatibility class (MHC) class I–like protein (81.0% nucleotide, 68.2% amino acid). This study provides biological characterization of a new Cervidpoxvirus attained through in vivo and in vitro ultrastructural analyses. It also demonstrates the importance of whole-genome sequencing in the molecular characterization of poxviruses identified in taxonomically related hosts.

Cervidpoxvirus是亚科的最近指定的属之一Chordopoxvirinae，与Deerpox病毒（DPV）作为唯一认可的品种更新。在这项研究中，作者描述了在北美驼鹿（自发性疾病和感染驼鹿美洲的一种新的）Cervidpoxvirus，这里命名Moosepox病毒（MPV）。三只4个月大的麋牛犊患上了多灶性亚急性至慢性，坏死性，化脓性至肉芽肿性皮炎，影响了面部和四肢。在超微结构中，在皮肤组织中观察到MPV形态发生的所有阶段，即新月形，球形不成熟颗粒，成熟颗粒和包膜成熟病毒。MPV的体外感染证实其形态发生与原型痘苗病毒相似。对整个编码区，包括该MPV的170个推定基因进行了测序和注释。基于整个基因组，序列长度为164,258 bp，与DPV（菌株W-1170-84）具有98.5％的核苷酸同一性。研究病毒的基因组在某些基因上不同于参考菌株（W-1170-84）的基因组，包括CD30样蛋白（83.9％核苷酸，81）。6％的氨基酸），内皮素前体（73.2％的核苷酸（包括一些插入缺失），51.4％的氨基酸）和主要的组织相容性类（MHC）I类蛋白（81.0％的核苷酸，68.2％的氨基酸）。这项研究提供了一种新的生物学特性通过体内和体外超微结构分析获得宫颈病毒。它还证明了全基因组测序在分类学相关宿主中鉴定的痘病毒分子鉴定中的重要性。