The avian coronavirus (AvCoV) infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a major poultry pathogen. A characteristic feature of IBV is the occurrence of many different strains belonging to different serotypes, which makes a complete control of the disease by vaccinations a challenging task. Reasons for differences in the tissue tropism and pathogenicity between IBV strains, e.g. a predilection for the kidneys or the oviduct are still an open question. Strains of the QX genotype have been major pathogens in poultry flocks in Asia, Europe and other parts of the world. They are the cause of severe problems with kidney disease and reproductive tract disorders. We analysed infectivity and binding properties of the QX strain and compared them with those of the nephropathogenic strain B1648. As most IBV strains do not infect permanent cell lines and show infection only in primary chicken cells of the target organs, we developed a culture system for chicken oviduct explants. The epithelial cells of the oviduct showed a high susceptibility to infection by the QX strain and were almost resistant to infection by the nephropathogenic B1648 strain. Binding tests with isolated primary oviduct epithelial cells and soluble S1 proteins revealed that S1 proteins of two IBV strains bound with the same efficiency to oviduct epithelial cells. This attachment was sialic acid dependent, indicating that the sugar binding property of IBV spike proteins is not the limiting factor for differences in infection efficiency for the oviduct of the corresponding viruses.

The spike proteins of a number of coronaviruses are able to bind to sialic acids present on the cell surface. The importance of this sialic acid binding ability during infection is, however, quite different. We compared the spike protein of transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) and the spike protein of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). Whereas sialic acid is the only receptor determinant known so far for IBV, TGEV requires interaction with its receptor aminopeptidase N to initiate infection of cells. Binding tests with soluble spike proteins carrying an IgG Fc-tag revealed pronounced differences between these two viral proteins. Binding of the IBV spike protein to host cells was in all experiments sialic acid dependent, whereas the soluble TGEV spike showed binding to APN but had no detectable sialic acid binding activity. Our results underline the different ways in which binding to sialoglycoconjugates is mediated by coronavirus spike proteins.

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ObjectiveHuman Salmonellosis is one of the most frequently reported foodborne zoonoses in the European Union. The most common source of human infections is the consumption of poultry products. Besides management and hygiene practices vaccination of poultry livestock is seen as one way to reduce Salmonella infections in humans. Turkey flocks in Europe are frequently infected with Salmonella and until recently there was no live vaccine for turkeys available. The aim of the present study was to examine the development of humoral antibodies after repeated vaccination with a bivalent live Salmonella vaccine containing attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis strains. Furthermore the colonization of the caecum with the vaccine strains and their spread to liver and spleen as well as the course of their fecal excretion was observed.ResultsAntibody production was hardly detectable after the first vaccination but increased after booster vaccinations. Both the Salmonella Enteritidis and the Salmonella Typhimurium vaccine strain were reisolated from caecum contents and organ samples. After booster vaccinations the re-isolation rates were reduced. The shedding of the vaccine strains was most pronounced after the first vaccination.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3462-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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