Matthew A Knox

Massey University · Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences

Assay validation is an essential component of disease surveillance testing, but can be problematic in settings where access to positive control material is limited and a safety risk for handlers. Here we describe a single non-infectious synthetic control that can help develop and validate the PCR based detection of the viral causes of Crimean-Congo...

Domestic dogs are currently recognized as being infected by 25 different canine papillomavirus (CPV) types classified into three genera. A short sequence from a novel CPV type was amplified, along with CPV1, from a papilloma (wart) from the mouth of a dog. The entire 7499 bp genome was amplified, and CPV26 contained putative coding regions that wer...

Genetic variation in Cryptosporidium, a common protozoan gut parasite in humans, is often based on marker genes containing trinucleotide repeats, which differentiate subtypes and track outbreaks. However, repeat regions have high replication slippage rates, making it difficult to discern biological diversity from error. Here, we synthesized Cryptos...

Simple Summary Papillomaviruses (PV) are known to cause a variety of skin lesions in dogs, including hyperplastic papillomas (warts) and viral plaques. There are currently 24 different PV types that are fully characterized in dogs. These PV types are divided into three genera. The Chipapillomavirus genus contains the largest number of canine papill...

Six Felis catus papillomavirus (FcaPV) types have been fully sequenceed from domestic cats including some that have been associated with the development of neoplasia. A sequence from a novel FcaPV type was amplified from a basal cell carcinoma that contained unusual histological evidence of PV infection and intense p16CDKN2A protein (p16) immunosta...

Cryptosporidium and Giardia are major causes of diarrhoea globally, and two of the most notified infectious diseases in New Zealand. Diagnosis requires laboratory confirmation carried out mostly via antigen or microscopy-based techniques. However, these methods are increasingly being superseded by molecular techniques. Here we investigate the level...

Assay validation is an essential component of disease surveillance but can be problematic in low resource settings where access to positive control material is limited and a safety risk for handlers. Here we describe techniques for validating the PCR based detection of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever orthonairovirus, Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Marbu...

Cryptosporidiosis is a worldwide diarrheal disease caused by the protozoan Cryptosporidium. The primary symptom is diarrhea, but patients may exhibit different symptoms based on the species of the Cryptosporidium parasite they are infected with. Furthermore, some genotypes within species are more transmissible and apparently virulent than others. T...

Picobirnaviruses are double-stranded RNA viruses known from a wide range of host species and locations but with unknown pathogenicity and host relationships. Here, we examined the diversity of picobirnaviruses from cattle and gorillas within and around Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (BIFNP), Uganda, where wild and domesticated animals and...

Bats host several zoonotic pathogens. Island biogeography and epidemiologic theory predict small remote islands have lower infection diversity. Molecular studies of urine and feces from three species at 10 sites from three islands suggest multiple pathogenic Leptospira, but not coronavirus, paramyxovirus, or Histoplasma, circulate in isolated Pacif...

Background Cryptosporidium and Giardia are major food and water-borne causes of diarrhoea globally, and two of the most notified infectious diseases in New Zealand. Diagnosis requires laboratory confirmation carried out mostly via antigen or microscopy-based techniques. However, these methods are increasingly being superseded by molecular technique...

Background Giardia intestinalis is one of the most common causes of diarrhoea worldwide. Molecular techniques have greatly improved our understanding of the taxonomy and epidemiology of this parasite. Co-infection with mixed (sub-) assemblages has been reported, however, Sanger sequencing is sometimes unable to identify shared subtypes between samp...

Numerous large dark plaques developed over the ventrum, legs and head of a 9-year-old pug dog over a 4-year-period. Histology confirmed a diagnosis of viral pigmented plaque and a short section of a novel papillomavirus (PV) type was amplified using consensus PCR primers. Taking advantage of the circular nature of PV DNA, ‘outward facing’ PCR prime...

Melanoides tuberculata (Müller, 1774) is a widely distributed aquatic gastropod, primarily found in tropical regions, which has also invaded geothermally heated waters in temperate regions. The spread of M. tuberculata globally has primarily been in association with the aquarium trade and aquatic plants. In New Zealand, M. tuberculata is known from...

Background Giardia is one of the most common causes of diarrhoea in the world and is a notifiable disease in New Zealand. Recent advances in molecular techniques, such as PCR and Sanger sequencing, have greatly improved our understanding of the taxonomic classification and epidemiology of this parasite. However, there has been an inability to ident...

Cross-species transmission of pathogens is intimately linked to human and environmental health. With limited healthcare and challenging living conditions, people living in poverty may be particularly susceptible to endemic and emerging diseases. Similarly, wildlife is impacted by human influences, including pathogen sharing, especially for species...

Viruses of the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae can cause mild to severe disease in people, including COVID-19, MERS and SARS. Their most common natural hosts are bat and bird species, which are mostly split across four virus genera. Molecular clock analyses of orthocoronaviruses suggested the most recent common ancestor of these viruses might have eme...

Cross-species transmission of pathogens is intimately linked to human and environmental health. With limited healthcare and challenging living conditions, people living in poverty may be particularly susceptible to endemic and emerging diseases. Similarly, wildlife is impacted by human influences, including pathogen sharing, especially for species...

Cryptosporidium hominis is a protozoan parasite that causes gastrointestinal disease in humans worldwide. Here, we report on draft whole-genome sequences of two clinical isolates of C. hominis that were purified from patients with cryptosporidiosis in New Zealand.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (Covid-19) nonpharmaceutical interventions have proven effective control measures for a range of respiratory illnesses throughout the world. These measures, which include isolation, stringent border controls, physical distancing and improved hygiene also have effects on other human pathogens, including parasitic enteric dis...

The protozoan parasite Giardia duodenalis (syn. Giardia intestinalis and Giardia lamblia) is an important cause of diarrheal disease (giardiasis) in humans and other animals. Giardia duodenalis is divided into eight assemblages, further divided into sub-assemblages, based on genetic divergence and host specificities. There are two zoonotic subtypes...

Giardia is an enteric protozoan parasite that causes gastroenteritis in all classes of vertebrates. It is ranked among the leading causes of death in children under 5 years of age. Giardiasis affects approximately 280 million people worldwide annually, a situation exacerbated by the low availability of effective treatments and the lack of a vaccine...

In 2013 there was an outbreak of crusting ventral dermatitis among a group of juvenile rowi (Apteryx rowi), a species of the endangered New Zealand kiwi, that were being raised on an off-shore island sanctuary. Biopsies taken at the time found nematodes migrating within the epidermis of affected skin but the specific identity and origin of the orga...

Background: Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium are major causes of bloodstream infection and diarrheal disease in East Africa. Sources of human infection, including the role of the meat pathway, are poorly understood. Methods: We collected cattle, goat, and poultry meat pathway samples from December 2015 through August 2017 in Tan...

Intraspecific genetic differentiation reflects processes that underpin biodiversity in deep-sea habitats. We examined the spatial genetic structure of epibenthic amphipod taxa from upper bathyal depths (200–1200 m) along New Zealand's continental margins. Genetic variability in amphipods was assessed using cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) to characteri...

The reliable identification and classification of infectious diseases is critical for understanding their biology and controlling their impact. Recent advances in sequencing technology have allowed insight into the remarkable diversity of the virosphere, of which a large component remains undiscovered. For these emerging or undescribed viruses, the...

Abstract The population genetic structure of toheroa (Paphies ventricosa), an Aotearoa (New Zealand) endemic surf clam, was assessed to determine levels of inter-population connectivity and test hypotheses regarding life history, habitat distribution and connectivity in coastal vs. estuarine taxa. Ninety-eight toheroa from populations across the le...

Altered temperature profiles resulting in increased warming and freeze–thaw cycle (FTC) frequency pose great ecological challenges to organisms in alpine and polar ecosystems. We performed a laboratory microcosm experiment to investigate how temperature variability affects soil bacterial cell numbers, and abundance and traits of soil microfauna (th...

Global climate change scenarios predict not only higher temperatures, but also increased climatic variability. In cold regions, these changes may bring about a shift in the frequency of soil freeze–thaw cycles (FTCs), which represent a significant physiological challenge, especially for small, poikilothermic animals with limited mobility. To assess...

Restoration of habitats often necessitates the eradication of exotic animals from a specified area. One of the many challenges associated with the removal of introduced animals is determining the distribution and continued presence of individuals in order to efficiently target control operations and minimise any adverse effects associated with remo...

Soils teem with life. Representatives of almost every phylum of organism known aboveground also occur in soil. In less than a handful of soil, there can be millions of types of microbes and hundreds of species of microscopic invertebrates. The identities and natural histories of these microscopic flora and fauna and many of the larger, visible soil...

The terrestrial ecosystems of Victoria Land, Antarctica are characteristically simple in terms of biological diversity and ecological functioning. Nematodes are the most commonly encountered and abundant metazoans of Victoria Land soils, yet little is known of their diversity and distribution. Herein we present a summary of the geographic distribut...

The relationship between species diversity and environmental parameters is poorly understood for the mobile macrofauna of deep-sea habitats due to under-sampling and subsequent lack of accurate taxonomic information. To redress this, cytochrome oxidase c subunit I (COI) DNA sequences were used to estimate species diversity and to compare phoxocepha...

To investigate the role of vicariance and dispersal on New Zealand's estuarine biodiversity, we examined variability in mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences for the amphipod genus Paracorophium. Individuals from the two nominate endemic species (Paracorophium excavatum and Paracorophium lucasi) were collected from sites...

1. Although Sinodiaptomus valkanovi [ sensu Ueda & Ohtsuka ( Hydrobiologia , 379 , 1998, 159)] is one of the most common freshwater calanoid copepods in Japan, it was originally described from specimens collected in Sofia, Bulgaria, as a subspecies of S. sarsi . This original description raises two issues requiring further investigation. One is whe...

We evaluated the possibility of isolating DNA from environmental samples to detect and identify invasive fish species based on variation in the sequences for mitochondrial gene region. Goldfish CO1 DNA was successfully amplified from the water in a tank containing goldfish. Sequencing results verified that the DNA extracted from water matched goldf...