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The occurrence of a spontaneous nephropathy with intranuclear inclusions in laboratory mice has puzzled pathologists for over 4 decades, because its etiology remains elusive. The condition is more severe in immunodeficient animals, suggesting an infectious cause. Using metagenomics, we identify the causative agent as an atypical virus, termed "mouse kidney parvovirus" (MKPV), belonging to a divergent genus of Parvoviridae. MKPV was identified in animal facilities in Australia and North America, is transmitted via a fecal-oral or urinary-oral route, and is controlled by the adaptive immune system. Detailed analysis of the clinical course and histopathological features demonstrated a stepwise progression of pathology ranging from sporadic tubular inclusions to tubular degeneration and interstitial fibrosis and culminating in renal failure. In summary, we identify a widely distributed pathogen in laboratory mice and establish MKPV-induced nephropathy as a new tool for elucidating mechanisms of tubulointerstitial fibrosis that shares molecular features with chronic kidney disease in humans., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hosts and their associated microbes are being increasingly introduced around the world, which can lead to novel host/microbe associations via new sympatries. Woodwasps (Hymenoptera: Siricidae) are able to utilize wood for its nutrients due to obligate mutualistic associations with white rot fungi in the genus Amylostereum and when invasive woodwasps are introduced to new areas, their symbionts accompany them. There is increasing evidence that woodwasp-fungus associations previously believed to be highly specific are actually flexible. We show that in North America, both Urocerus albicornis and Urocerus cressoni, which develop in trees in the Pinaceae, usually use Amylostereum chailletii but sometimes carry an Amylostereum areolatum strain putatively introduced to North America by the invasive woodwasp Sirex noctilio. Symbiont spillover from invasive to native hosts is a source of new host/introduced symbiont associations that could result in changes in microbes and host fitness with the potential to impact communities.