Molecular Evidence of Group D Rotavirus in Commercial Broiler Chicks in India

Abstract

Group D rotavirus (RVD) is one of the evolving viral causes of acute gastroenteritis in avian species all over the world but its frequency in Indian poultry is not known. We report here the first sequence-confirmed RVD infection in 1-2 week old broiler chicks from northern India. Initial confirmation of type D rotavirus was done using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and VP6 gene based reverse-transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) for group D rotavirus, which produced a specific 742 bp amplicon in positive cases. The intestinal contents which showed presence of group D rotavirus strain were designated as RVD/Avian/India/PTN-14/2012/ GXP[X] and RVD/Avian/India/UKD-48/2012/GXP[X]. The comparative sequence analysis based on partial VP6 gene of type D rotavirus Indian strains revealed higher homology with the VP6 genes of the avian group D rotaviruses from Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, Bangladesh and UK, both at the nucleotide (87.2-89.6%) and amino acid (98.7-99.5%) levels. These two Indian avian RVD isolates clustered together, away from other Asian group D isolates from Bangladesh. The analysis of group specific VP6 protein showed amino acid changes at only two positions i.e. 228 and 384 when compared to the reference group D rotavirus strain (GenBank accession number: GU733448) confirming conserved nature of this protein. This seems to be the first sequence-confirmed detection of group D avian rotavirus in broiler chicks from India. The findings emphasise the importance of this virus in enteric infections of Indian poultry flocks. The study also emphasises the need for intensifying the epidemiological surveillance for group D rotaviruses in the near future.

Avian rotavirus enteritis – an updated review

“…Niture et al (2010a) reported that 7.84% of poultry were positive for RVD in Maharashtra and electropherotyping revealed 5:2:2:2 migration patterns. Kattoor et al (2013b) reported for the first time sequence-confirmed RVD disease in 1 to 2 week old broiler chicks from Tarai area of the temperate western Himalayan region in northern India.…”

“…Turkey poults, for example, have been often infected during their first week of life while broiler chickens were generally found infected at about four weeks of age . RVD, RVF and RVG have been seen exclusively in poultry (Urasawa et al 1992;Saif & Jiang 1994;Santos & Hoshino 2005;Kattoor et al 2013a;Kattoor et al 2013b) and may contribute to disease (McNulty et al 1984;McNulty 2003;Villarreal et al 2006). The D group has also been frequently detected in avian species.…”

Unexpected detection of porcine rotavirus C strains carrying human origin VP6 gene

“…Among these, RVA remains the most important due to its wide host range and higher prevalence. In the animal kingdom, RVA, rotavirus B (RVB) and RVC infect domesticated animals, while strains from Rotavirus D, F and G are solely reported from birds Kattoor et al 2013). Among domesticated animals, the swine population witnesses infection by RVs such as RVA, RVB, RVC, RVE and RVH (Estes and Kapikian 2007;Wakuda et al 2011).…”

Monitoring and molecular characterization of group Drotavirus in Brazilian poultry farms

“…Considering the analysis of group-specific VP6 protein showed amino acid changes at only one position, i.e., 102, when compared to the reference RVD used in this study (GenBank accession number JN034682) and to other sequences described in Brazil, confirming the conserved nature of this protein. In fact, the comparative sequence analysis based on partial VP6 gene of Indian RVD strains revealed higher homology with the VP6 genes of the avian RVD from Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, Bangladesh and UK (Kattoor et al 2013).…”

“…Savita et al (2008) detected 7 positive samples for RVD from 77 (fecal and environmental samples) by PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis), and Niture et al (2010) detected 4 samples (7.4% or 4/54) with a migration pattern characteristic of the RVD by PAGE and all of these samples were positive for PCR targeting VP6 gene. Kattoor et al (2013) report the first two sequence-confirmed RVD (4.7% or 2/42) infections in 1-2 week-old broiler chicks from northern India with an initial test of RVD by PAGE and VP6 gene-based PCR assay for confirmation. Alam et al (2011) described the occurrence of the 0.38% (1/267) RVD in fecal samples from chickens by PAGE-SS (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining) in Bangladesh.…”