Phylogenetic analysis of bluetongue virus serotype 4 field isolates from Argentina

Abstract

Bluetongue is an insect-transmitted viral disease of ruminant species, which represents a major barrier to the international trade of animals and their products. Bluetongue virus (BTV) has a genome composed of ten linear segments of dsRNA, which code for at least ten different viral proteins. In South America, serological evidence for the presence of BTV has been found in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Chile. Brazil and Argentina are the only South American countries where BTV has been isolated. In Brazil, only one BTV isolate, serotype 12, has been reported, whereas in Argentina five BTV serotype 4 isolates have been obtained from cattle without clinical signs. Three of these five isolates were isolated during 1999-2001, whereas two of them were obtained as part of the present work. This study describes sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analyses of segment (Seg)-2, Seg-3, Seg-6, Seg-7 and Seg-10 of the first Argentinian field isolates of BTV. The analysis of Seg-2 and Seg-6 resulted in a single cluster of Argentinian sequences into the serotype 4 clade. In addition, the Argentinian sequences grouped within the nucleotype A clade, along with reference strains. The analysis of Seg-3, Seg-7 and Seg-10 showed that the Argentinian isolates grouped into the western topotype, indicating that the circulating virus had an African/European origin. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Argentinian sequences present a South American genetic identity, suggesting an independent lineage evolution. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the Seg-2, Seg-3, Seg-6, Seg-7 and Seg-10 sequences of Argentinian BTV isolates are: JX024940-JX024964.

Identification of bluetongue virus and epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus serotypes in French Guiana in 2011 and 2012

“…BTV-10, 12, 14, 13, 17 and 24 had been previously identified in South America (Homan et al, 1985;Lancelot et al, 1989). More recently BTV-4 was isolated in Argentina and Brazil (Legisa et al, 2013(Legisa et al, , 2014.…”

“…In the 1980s, a major program of sentinel herds has shown that 3,4,6,8,12,17 were circulating in Central America and the Caribbean region, presumably without clinical expression (Mo et al, 1994). In South America, the only serotypes detected by virological methods (virus isolation or genome detection by Polymerase Chain Reaction) were serotype 4 in Brazil in 1979 and more recently in Argentina (Lager et al, 2004;Legisa et al, 2013) and serotype 12 in the southern provinces of Brazil in two clinical episodes in 2001 (Clavijo et al, 2002).…”

Outbreak of Bluetongue virus serotype 4 in dairy sheep in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…3 A phylogenetic analysis revealed a South American genetic identity for the Argentine sequences, indicating the independent evolution of this viral lineage. 5 There are still no contingency plans for responding to an outbreak of bluetongue disease in Brazil. Therefore, when vesicular disease is suspected, the Animal Defense Office initiates procedures developed against foot-and-mouth disease.…”

An experimental subunit vaccine based on Bluetongue virus 4 VP2 protein fused to an antigen-presenting cells single chain antibody elicits cellular and humoral immune responses in cattle, guinea pigs and IFNAR(−/−) mice

“…In previous works, our group characterized Argentine isolates as a well-differentiated independent lineage [25]. However, the similarity analysis performed (data not shown) including amino acid sequences and comparing welldefined groups showed that the Argentine group and worldwide BTV4 isolates were highly similar and conserved the regions previously recorded as antigenic sites [31,32].…”

“…BTV serotype 4 (BTV4) strain used in this study was an Argentine isolated named 4/ARG/829/2001, described by Legisa [25,26]. Segment 2 (Seg2) open reading frame was cloned into pFastBacDual plasmid (Invitrogen).…”