Biology subjects

McDonough, M. M.

Publications and source records attributed to McDonough, M. M..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Historic and contemporary museum specimens implicate Northern Red-backed Vole (Clethrionomys rutilus) as borealpox host as early as 1990s

Borealpox virus (BRPV; formerly Alaskapox) is an orthopoxvirus that has caused seven reported human infections in Alaska since 2015, including a fatal case in 2023. The natural reservoir of BRPV is unknown, although previous investigations have raised the possibility of wild small mammals transmitting the virus to humans, either through direct contact or via domestic cats and dogs. To understand which species may be involved in the maintenance and/or spillover of BRPV in Alaska, we trapped and sampled wild small mammals (including voles, shrews, and squirrels) in 2021 and 2024 near reported human case locations in Fairbanks and the Kenai Peninsula, respectively. We found evidence of previous exposure to orthopoxviruses in five species (including the House Mouse, Mus musculus) and detected BRPV DNA as well as viable virus in Northern Red-backed Voles (Clethrionomys rutilus). Further, screening of tissues from historical museum specimens revealed BRPV DNA in C. rutilus specimens collected in Denali National Park and Preserve in 1998 and 1999, 17 years before the first reported human case of BRPV. Phylogenomic analysis of all human and animal BRPV isolates strongly supports the hypothesis of local human infections through multiple spillover events. These findings suggest C. rutilus as a possible reservoir species for BRPV and indicate that BRPV has been present in Alaskan wild small-mammal populations for at least 25 years. Our study highlights the potential of museum collections to elucidate the temporal, spatial, and host ranges of emerging pathogens. Further museum- and field-based sampling will clarify the true geographic range of BRPV, which is closely related to Old World orthopoxviruses and may be circulating beyond North America.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Museum collections and machine learning guide discovery of novel coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses

Natural history museum collections are valuable but underutilized resources for viral discovery, offering opportunities to test hypotheses about viral occurrence across space, time, and taxonomic groups. We developed machine learning models of bat host suitability to guide coronavirus and paramyxovirus screening of 1330 and 491 tissues, respectively, in a museum collection. For the first time, we recovered coronavirus (n = 16) and paramyxovirus (n = 3) sequences from archived museum tissues, confirming three novel coronavirus host species and three novel paramyxovirus host species (3% and 33% prediction success rate, respectively). These sequences included a SARS-like coronavirus and an orthoparamyxovirus from Angolan Rhinolophus fumigatus specimens collected in June 2019, suggesting that viruses with epidemic potential may be more widespread in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed. Our study demonstrates the value of combining predictive modeling and collections-based viral discovery, particularly for filling outstanding sampling gaps and investigating changes in host-virus associations over time.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Prospecting for zoonotic pathogens using targeted DNA enrichment

There are over 60 zoonoses linked to small mammals, including some of the most devastating pathogens in human history. Meanwhile, millions of museum-archived tissues are available to understand natural history of these pathogens. Our goal is to maximize the value of museum collections for pathogen-based research using targeted sequence capture. To this end, we have generated a probe panel that includes 39,916, 80bp RNA probes targeting 32 pathogen groups, including bacteria, helminths, fungi, and protozoans. Lab generated, mock control samples show that we are capable of enriching targeted loci from pathogen DNA 2,882 to 6,746-fold. Further, we were able to identify bacterial species in museum-archived samples, including Bartonella, a known human zoonosis. These results show that probe-based enrichment of pathogens is a highly customizable and efficient method for identifying pathogens from museum-archived tissues.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2020

Phylogenomic systematics of the spotted skunks (Carnivora, Mephitidae, Spilogale): Additional species diversity and Pleistocene climate change as a major driver of diversification

Four species of spotted skunks (Carnivora, Mephitidae, Spilogale) are currently recognized: Spilogale angustifrons, S. gracilis, S. putorius, and S. pygmaea. Understanding species boundaries within this group is critical for effective conservation given that regional populations or subspecies (e.g., S. p. interrupta) have experienced significant population declines. Further, there may be currently unrecognized diversity within this genus as some taxa (e.g., S. angustifrons) and geographic regions (e.g., Central America) never have been assessed using DNA sequence data. We analyzed species limits and diversification patterns in spotted skunks using multilocus nuclear (ultraconserved elements) and mitochondrial (whole mitogenomes and single gene analysis) data sets from broad geographic sampling representing all currently recognized species and subspecies. We found a high degree of genetic divergence among Spilogale that reflects seven distinct species and eight unique mitochondrial lineages. Initial divergence between S. pygmaea and all other Spilogale occurred 29 in the Early Pliocene (~ 5.0 million years ago) which was followed by subsequent diversification of the remaining Spilogale into an "eastern" and "western" lineage during the Early Pleistocene (~1.5 million years ago). These two lineages experienced temporally coincident patterns of diversification at ~0.66 and ~0.35 million years ago into two and ultimately three distinct evolutionary units, respectively. Diversification was confined almost entirely within the Pleistocene during a timeframe characterized by alternating glacial-interglacial cycles, with the origin of this diversity occurring in northeastern Mexico and the southwestern United States of America. Mitochondrial-nuclear discordance was recovered across three lineages in geographic regions consistent with secondary contact, including a distinct mitochondrial lineage confined to the Sonoran Desert. Our results have direct consequences for conservation of threatened populations, or species, as well as for our understanding of the evolution of delayed implantation in this enigmatic group of small carnivores.

evolutionary biology↗