Molecular Characterization of Newcastle Disease Viruses Isolated from Chickens in Tanzania and Ghana

Abstract

Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most challenging infectious diseases affecting poultry production in Africa, causing major economic losses. To date, Newcastle disease virus isolates from several African countries have been grouped into class II NDV genotypes I, IV, V, VI, VII, XI, XIII, XIV, XVII, XVIII and XXI. Although ND is endemic in many African countries, information on circulating genotypes is still scarce. In Tanzania, outbreaks with genotypes V and XIII have been reported. In West and Central Africa, genotypes XIV, XVII, and XVIII are the most predominant. To investigate other genotypes circulating in Tanzania and Ghana, we performed molecular genotyping on isolates from Tanzania and Ghana using the MinION, a third-generation portable sequencing device from Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Using the MinION, we successfully sequenced the NDV F gene hypervariable region of 24 isolates from Tanzania and four samples from Ghana. In Tanzania, genotypes V, VII and XIII were detected. All isolates from Ghana belonged to genotype XVIII. The data obtained in this study reflect the genetic diversity of NDV in Africa and highlight the importance of surveillance for monitoring the distribution of NDV genotypes and viral evolution.

Molecular evaluation and genetic characterisation of Newcastle disease virus's haemagglutinin‐neuraminidase protein isolated from broiler chickens in Iran

“…Phylogenetic analyses, of the three Iranian Usachev et al, 2006). To date, the circulation of genotypes of NDV strains XIIIa, XIIId, VIIj and VIId in commercial poultry (Abah et al, 2020;da Silva et al, 2020), VI in domestic pigeons (da Silva et al, 2020;Rezaei Far et al, 2017) and VII in domestic poultry (Sabouri et al, 2016) et al, 2013). Munir et al (2018) reported the similarity of phylogenetic analysis between HN gene and F gene in NDVs that is following our results in this study (Munir & Shabbir, 2018;Soltani, Peighambari et al, 2019).…”

“…Genotypes XII, XIII and XIV have ancestors similar to genotype VII that produce different distinct lineages in the course of its evolution (Orynbayev et al., 2018 ; Ramey et al., 2013 ; Usachev et al., 2006 ). To date, the circulation of genotypes of NDV strains XIIIa, XIIId, VIIj and VIId in commercial poultry (Abah et al., 2020 ; da Silva et al., 2020 ), VI in domestic pigeons (da Silva et al., 2020 ; Rezaei Far et al., 2017 ) and VII in domestic poultry (Sabouri et al., 2016 ) have been proven in Iran. These data show that VII and XIII are among the most predominant NDV subgenotypes circulating in Iran between 1995 and 2017.…”

Analysis of mutations in the fusion protein and hemagglutinin-neuraminidase in twelve strains of NDV isolated in Madagascar by bioinformatics methods

“…None of these mutations affect the specifics residues of Malagasy strains (genotype XI), as reported by Maminiaina in 2011 [32]. Furthermore, none of them correspond to the characteristic mutations of the new genotypes such as XIV, XVII and XVIII [33][34][35][36]. Thus, the identification of these mutations raises an alarm about the existence of a progressive evolution in genotype XI originating from Madagascar.…”

Genetic Analyses of Response of Local Ghanaian Tanzanian Chicken Ecotypes to a Natural Challenge with Velogenic Newcastle Disease Virus

“…A previous study grouped NDV isolates collected in several African countries according to the updated NDV classification system [ 37 ] and identified up to three genotypes in Tanzania (V, VII, and XIII) [ 13 , 14 , 38 ] and one genotype in Ghana (XVIII) [ 13 , 14 ]. However, within each genotype class consists a collection of NDV strains and it is likely that, even in Ghana, different strains were present in the different replicates.…”

“…Based on their pathological type, strains of NDV are classified into lentogenic, mesogenic, and velogenic strains [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Velogenic strains cause severe disease and are endemic and responsible for high mortality in poultry in the developing countries of Africa [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], Asia [ 14 ], and South America. Outbreaks are often devastating, and a velogenic strain can cause up to 100% mortality in chicken flocks, resulting in severe economic losses for families.…”