Isolation and characterization of the first American bottlenosedolphin papillomavirus: Tursiops truncatus papillomavirus type 2

A novel papillomavirus (PV) was isolated from a genital condyloma of a free-ranging bottlenose
dolphin inhabiting the coastal waters of Charleston Harbor, SC, USA: Tursiops truncatus
papillomavirus type 2 (TtPV2). This novel virus represents the first isolated North American
cetacean PV and the first American bottlenose dolphin PV. After the viral genome was cloned,
sequenced and characterized genetically, phylogenetic analyses revealed that TtPV2 is most similar
to the only published cetacean PV isolated and characterized thus far, Phocoena spinipinnis PV
type 1 (PsPV1). A striking feature of the genome of TtPV2, as well as that of PsPV1, is the lack of an
E7 open reading frame, which typically encodes one of the oncogenic proteins believed to be
responsible for malignant transformation in the high-risk mucosotropic human papillomaviruses
(HPVs). TtPV2 E6 contains a PDZ-binding motif that has been shown to be involved in
transformation in the case of high-risk genital HPVs.