Genomic characterization of the first class I Newcastle disease virus isolated from the mainland of China

Abstract

The complete genomic sequence of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strain NDV08-004, isolated from domestic ducks in China, was determined in this study. The genome is 15198 nucleotides (nt) in length, follows the "rule of six" and contains a 55-nt leader sequence at the 3' end and a 114-nt trailer sequence at the 5' end. Compared with the full genome sequences of Class II NDV strains, the NDV08-004 isolate has a 12-nt insertion (TGGGAGACGGGG) in the phosphoprotein gene between nucleotides 2381 and 2382 of the genome (numbered according to the genomic sequence of the La Sota strain, which consists of 15186 nt). Strain NDV08-004 has the motif (112)E-Q-Q-E-R-L(117) at the cleavage site of the fusion protein, which is typical of lentogenic NDV strains, and this is in agreement with the results of pathogenic tests based on the mean death time (MDT) and the intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI). Phylogenetic analysis based on the full genome revealed that all the NDV strains studied could be divided into two distinct clades, namely class I and class II, and the NDV08-004 isolate characterized in this study was grouped in class I. Further phylogenetic analysis based on a 374-bp fragment of the F gene in class I strains of NDV demonstrated that NDV08-004 belongs to genotype 3, and should be therefore similar to strains obtained from live bird markets in Hong Kong in recent years.

Phylogenetic and Pathotypical Analysis of Two Virulent Newcastle Disease Viruses Isolated from Domestic Ducks in China

“…However, virological and epidemiological information about NDV strains circulating in waterfowl and wild birds is still extremely limited. In ducks, many NDVs have been isolated in recent years [12], [13], [17], [18], [19], [20]. Most of them belong to class I NDVs and are low-virulence strains, occasionally a high-virulence strain is isolated but little is known about their potential to cause disease in domestic ducks.…”

“…In general, ducks are considered natural reservoirs of NDV and show few or no clinical signs after infection even for NDV strains lethal to chickens [13], [17], [18], [19]. Many NDVs have been isolated from domestic ducks in recent years [12], [13], [20]. Most of these are low-virulence strains, occasionally a high-virulence strain is isolated but little is known about their potential to cause disease in domestic ducks.…”

Newcastle disease in Nigeria: epizootiology and current knowledge of circulating genotypes

“…Full genome sequences of APMV-1 strains of the differently identified genotypes circulating across the globe have been published [17,20,34,52,59,107]. In West Africa, however, only four complete genome sequences of the virus circulating in this sub-region are available in the sequence repositories (GenBank, DDBJ, and EMBL) as of 30th May, 2016.…”

Complete genome sequence of highly virulent neurotropic Newcastle disease virus strain Texas GB

“…There are two other genome size classes reported among strains of NDV, which are 15,192 nt and 15, 198 nt [19][20][21][22]. The longer genome sequences are due to the presence of 6 and 12 additional nt in the 3 0 untranslated region (3 0 -UTR) of N gene and in the open reading frame (ORF) of P gene, respectively (Fig.…”