Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) poses significant financial and biosecurity challenges to the commercial poultry farming industry. IBV is the causative agent of multi-systemic infection in the respiratory, reproductive and renal systems, which is similar to the symptoms of various viral and bacterial diseases reported in chickens. The avian immune system manifests the ability to respond to subsequent exposure with an antigen by stimulating mucosal, humoral and cell-mediated immunity. However, the immune response against IBV presents a dilemma due to the similarities between the different serotypes that infect poultry. Currently, the live attenuated and killed vaccines are applied for the control of IBV infection; however, the continual emergence of IB variants with rapidly evolving genetic variants increases the risk of outbreaks in intensive poultry farms. This review aims to focus on IBV challenge–infection, route and delivery of vaccines and vaccine-induced immune responses to IBV. Various commercial vaccines currently have been developed against IBV protection for accurate evaluation depending on the local situation. This review also highlights and updates the limitations in controlling IBV infection in poultry with issues pertaining to antiviral therapy and good biosecurity practices, which may aid in establishing good biorisk management protocols for its control and which will, in turn, result in a reduction in economic losses attributed to IBV infection.

Advances in data acquisition via high resolution genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic platforms have driven the discovery of the underlying factors associated with metabolic disorders (MD) and led to interventions that target the underlying genetic causes as well as lifestyle changes and dietary regulation. The review focuses on fourteen of the most widely studied inherited MD, which are familial hypercholesterolemia, Gaucher disease, Hunter syndrome, Krabbe disease, Maple syrup urine disease, Metachromatic leukodystrophy, Mitochondrial encephalopathy lactic acidosis stroke-like episodes (MELAS), Niemann-Pick disease, Phenylketonuria (PKU), Porphyria, Tay-Sachs disease, Wilson’s disease, Familial hypertriglyceridemia (F-HTG) and Galactosemia based on genome wide association studies, epigenetic factors, transcript regulation, post-translational genetic modifications and biomarker discovery through metabolomic studies. We will delve into the current approaches being undertaken to analyze metadata using bioinformatic approaches and the emerging interventions using genome editing platforms as applied to animal models.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is an avian coronavirus (CoV) that belongs to the genus Gammacoronavirus and has been listed as an important disease by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). It causes highly contagious respiratory, reproductive, and renal diseases in commercial poultry farms. Multiple IBV serotypes and genotypes have been identified in many countries and many detected variants do not provide cross-protection against infection, resulting in repeated outbreaks and significant economic losses worldwide. In addition, the high genetic mutations and recombination events in the prominent genomic regions of IBV, particularly in the spike glycoprotein (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins, are directly involved in the evolutionary processes of IBV and lead to increased pathogenicity and tissue tropism. The characterization of the different genotypes and the relationship between the structure, function, post-translational modifications (PTMs), and structural motifs will elucidate the mechanisms that promote replication and pathogenicity and affect the host’s immune response during infection. In this review, we discuss the molecular features of various IBV genes and proteins that contribute to the infection process. We also highlight the common PTMs and structural motifs that occur during protein synthesis and are essential components of IBV ecology.