Characterization and pathogenicity of a novel variant infectious bursal disease virus in China

Abstract

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is a highly epidemic and immunosuppressive disease of 3- to 6-week-old chicks caused by infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Since 2017, there has been a notable increase in the isolation rates of novel variant IBDV strains in China, of which characteristic amino acid residues were different from those of early antigen variants. In this study, one IBDV strain was isolated from a farm with suspected IBD outbreak in Shandong Province, China, which was designated LY21/2. The strain LY21/2 could replicate in MC38 cells with previous culture adaption in SPF chick embryos. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that LY21/2 formed one branch with novel variant IBDVs and shared 96.8–98.6% nucleotide sequence identity with them. Moreover, LY21/2 serving as the major parent underwent the recombination event of a variant strain (19D69), while the minor parent was a very virulent strain (Harbin-1). SPF chicks inoculated with LY21/2 showed no gross clinic symptom, whereas bursal atrophy was exhibited and apoptosis was occurred in 55.21% of bursal cells. The results of histopathology and immunohistochemical staining showed that lymphocyte depletion and connective tissue hyperplasia and IBDV antigen-positive cells were observed in the bursa of LY21/2-infected chicks. Besides, DNA fragmentation was detected in the LY21/2-infected bursal tissue section by TUNEL assay. Collectivtely, these data presented analysis and evaluation of the genetic characteristics and pathogenicity of a novel variant IBDV strain. This study may help in the development of biosafety strategies for the prevention and control of IBDV in poultry.

Genetic and pathogenic characterizations of a naturally occurring reassortant and homologous recombinant strain of the classical infectious bursal disease virus re-emerging in chickens in southern China

“…Since the emergence and widespread prevalence of vvIBDV in 1991, reports of classical strains in China have become rare (Zhang et al, 2022). In 2016, novel variant strain (nvIBDV) emerged in multiple regions of China, causing subclinical symptoms in chicken flocks without apparent morbidity and mortality (Fan et al, 2019;Xu et al, 2020;Hou et al, 2022;Huang et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2022a,b). Notably, since 2020, cIBDV infections have been re-emerged in several poultry-producing provinces in southern China, with their prevalence increasing year by year (Author unpublished data).…”