TY - JOUR

T1 - Genetic diversity of Newcastle disease virus in Pakistan

T2 - A countrywide perspective

AU - Shabbir, Muhammad Zubair

AU - Zohari, Siamak

AU - Yaqub, Tahir

AU - Nazir, Jawad

AU - Shabbir, Muhammad Abu Bakr

AU - Mukhtar, Nadia

AU - Shafee, Muhammad

AU - Sajid, Muhammad

AU - Anees, Muhammad

AU - Abbas, Muhammad

AU - Khan, Muhammad Tanveer

AU - Ali, Asad Amanat

AU - Ghafoor, Aamir

AU - Ahad, Abdul

AU - Channa, Aijaz Ali

AU - Anjum, Aftab Ahmad

AU - Hussain, Nazeer

AU - Ahmad, Arfan

AU - Goraya, Mohsan Ullah

AU - Iqbal, Zahid

AU - Khan, Sohail Ahmad

AU - Aslam, Hassan Bin

AU - Zehra, Kiran

AU - Sohail, Muhammad Umer

AU - Yaqub, Waseem

AU - Ahmad, Nisar

AU - Berg, Mikael

AU - Munir, Muhammad

PY - 2013/6/3

Y1 - 2013/6/3

N2 - Background: Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most deadly diseases of poultry around the globe. The disease is endemic in Pakistan and recurrent outbreaks are being reported regularly in wild captive, rural and commercial poultry flocks. Though, efforts have been made to characterize the causative agent in some of parts of the country, the genetic nature of strains circulating throughout Pakistan is currently lacking. Material and methods. To ascertain the genetics of NDV, 452 blood samples were collected from 113 flocks, originating from all the provinces of Pakistan, showing high mortality (30-80%). The samples represented domesticated poultry (broiler, layer and rural) as well as wild captive birds (pigeons, turkeys, pheasants and peacock). Samples were screened with real-time PCR for both matrix and fusion genes (1792 bp), positive samples were subjected to amplification of full fusion gene and subsequent sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Results: The deduced amino acid sequence of the fusion protein cleavage site indicated the presence of motif ( 112RK/RQRR↓F117) typical for velogenic strains of NDV. Phylogenetic analysis of hypervariable region of the fusion gene indicated that all the isolates belong to lineage 5 of NDV except isolates collected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. A higher resolution of the phylogenetic analysis of lineage 5 showed the distribution of Pakistani NDV strains to 5b. However, the isolates from KPK belonged to lineage 4c; the first report of such lineage from this province. Conclusions: Taken together, data indicated the prevalence of multiple lineages of NDV in different poultry population including wild captive birds. Such understanding is crucial to underpin the nature of circulating strains of NDV, their potential for interspecies transmission and disease diagnosis and control strategies.

AB - Background: Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most deadly diseases of poultry around the globe. The disease is endemic in Pakistan and recurrent outbreaks are being reported regularly in wild captive, rural and commercial poultry flocks. Though, efforts have been made to characterize the causative agent in some of parts of the country, the genetic nature of strains circulating throughout Pakistan is currently lacking. Material and methods. To ascertain the genetics of NDV, 452 blood samples were collected from 113 flocks, originating from all the provinces of Pakistan, showing high mortality (30-80%). The samples represented domesticated poultry (broiler, layer and rural) as well as wild captive birds (pigeons, turkeys, pheasants and peacock). Samples were screened with real-time PCR for both matrix and fusion genes (1792 bp), positive samples were subjected to amplification of full fusion gene and subsequent sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Results: The deduced amino acid sequence of the fusion protein cleavage site indicated the presence of motif ( 112RK/RQRR↓F117) typical for velogenic strains of NDV. Phylogenetic analysis of hypervariable region of the fusion gene indicated that all the isolates belong to lineage 5 of NDV except isolates collected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. A higher resolution of the phylogenetic analysis of lineage 5 showed the distribution of Pakistani NDV strains to 5b. However, the isolates from KPK belonged to lineage 4c; the first report of such lineage from this province. Conclusions: Taken together, data indicated the prevalence of multiple lineages of NDV in different poultry population including wild captive birds. Such understanding is crucial to underpin the nature of circulating strains of NDV, their potential for interspecies transmission and disease diagnosis and control strategies.

KW - Lineages

KW - Newcastle disease virus

KW - Pakistan

KW - Phylogenetic analysis

KW - Poultry

U2 - 10.1186/1743-422X-10-170

DO - 10.1186/1743-422X-10-170

M3 - Review article

C2 - 23721461

AN - SCOPUS:84878230680

VL - 10

JO - Virology Journal

JF - Virology Journal

SN - 1743-422X

M1 - 170

ER -