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Papillomavirus Genomes Recovered from Three Northern Pintails and One Mallard in New Mexico

Northern pintails and mallards in flight
Research: Genetics & genomics, Disease, parasites & microbiology

Cloacal swabs from three northern pintails (Anas acuta) and one mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) sampled in New Mexico, USA yielded four complete papillomavirus genomes, according to a study published on 5 August 2026. One circular viral genome was assembled from each bird, and all four were classified as Anas platyrhynchos papillomavirus 3 (AplaPV3).

Papillomaviruses have circular, double-stranded DNA genomes and are often strongly associated with particular host lineages. Complete papillomavirus genomes have nevertheless been documented from relatively few bird species. Before this study, complete genomes from waterfowl in the order Anseriformes had been reported only from mallards, making the three northern pintail detections a notable expansion of the known avian hosts from which complete genomes have been recovered.

The four genomes were 7,839–7,851 nucleotides long and shared 92.8–99.8% genome-wide nucleotide identity with one another. They also shared 92.7–99.9% identity with AplaPV3 previously recovered from a mallard in Missouri. On that basis, the authors assign all four New Mexico genomes to the same papillomavirus type rather than describing them as four new types.

None of the four sampled birds had visually identifiable disease symptoms. The study therefore primarily expands the genomic record of papillomaviruses in wild waterfowl and documents AplaPV3 in northern pintails as well as mallard.

Sources and image credit

  1. Olivo, D., Collins, D., de Koch, M., Revekant, C., Kraberger, S., & Varsani, A. (2026). Metagenome-assembled genomes of papillomaviruses from mallard and northern pintail cloacal swabs. Microbiology Resource Announcements. https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.00726-26Primary open-access article published online 5 August 2026. Cloacal swabs from three Northern Pintails and one Mallard sampled in New Mexico yielded four complete papillomavirus genomes, one from each bird. The genomes shared >92.7% genome-wide nucleotide identity with Anas platyrhynchos papillomavirus 3 previously identified from a mallard in Missouri. The sampled birds had no visually identifiable disease symptoms.

Image: Mick Hanan / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — northern pintails and drake mallards in flight over Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota, USA, 8 March 2015. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain as a work of the U.S. federal government. Representative image; not birds from the New Mexico study. · Public domain · Source

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Genetics & genomics

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Northern Pintail Anas acuta Explore species Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Explore species

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