Two neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MCAs), R63 and B69, were used in antigen-capture enzyme immunoassays to verify the presence of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) in infected bursal tissues. The intra-serotype-common neutralization site defined by the R63 MCA was present on all IBDV isolates and laboratory strains tested. However, the neutralization site defined by the B69 MCA was found on only classic or older IBDV strains; it was not found on recently isolated variants of IBDV or on a majority of recent field viruses examined. The data suggest that a major antigenic shift in IBDV has occurred in the field and that this shift involves, at a minimum, the deletion or alteration of one of two neutralization sites previously found on classic IBDV strains.

Two somatic cell hybridizations were performed utilizing splenocytes from mice immunized with one or more strains of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Supernatants from hybridoma cell lines were initially screened by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against multiple strains of IBDV. Cell lines that secreted antibodies with ELISA reactivity patterns of interest were cloned, and their monoclonal antibodies (MCAs) were subsequently tested in cross-virus-neutralization tests. Two of the nine MCAs selected exhibited strong neutralizing activity and precipitated IBDV antigens in agar gel precipitin tests as well. MCA B69 significantly neutralized only the cloned D78 strain of IBDV, whereas MCA R63 neutralized all IBDV strains (representing both serotype I and II viruses) against which it was tested. Results of competitive ELISAs that used the R63 and B69 MCAs showed that the two neutralization sites on the D78 strain were not overlapping.

The major immunogenic protein VP2 from a pathogenic field isolate (variant A virus) of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) was cloned and sequenced to examine antigenic variations. The VP2 open reading frame consists of 1509 nucleotides and codes for a 503 amino acid protein. Overall, the VP2 amino acid sequence of the variant A virus shares 98.6% identity with VP2 genes from other published IBDV strains. However, within the central region of VP2 (amino acids 222-334) lies a highly divergent area that we have termed the variable domain. Relative to five other IBDV isolates, a total of six amino acid changes occur within the variable domain of the variant A virus. At positions 284-288, a substitution of isoleucine to threonine, a decrease in the number of Chou and Fasman beta turns, and a switch from a hydrophilic to a hydrophobic region are found only in the variant A virus. Together these changes predict a decrease in antigenicity as determined by calculation of potential antigenic sites. This suggests that only minor changes within VP2 contributed to the emergence of a variant virus that can cause disease in immunized birds.

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