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European brown hare syndrome virus: relationship to rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus and other caliciviruses.

Monoclonal antibodies directed against the capsid protein of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) were used to identify field cases of European brown hare syndrome (EBHS) and to distinguish between RHDV and the virus responsible for EBHS. Western blot (immunoblot) analysis of liver extract of an EBHS virus (EBHSV)-infected hare revealed a single major capsid protein species of approximately 60 kDa that shared epitopes with the capsid protein of RHDV. RNA isolated from the liver of an EBHSV-infected hare contained two viral RNA species of 7.5 and 2.2 kb that comigrated with the genomic and subgenomic RNAs of RHDV and were recognized by labeled RHDV cDNA in Northern (RNA) hybridizations. The nucleotide sequence of the 3' 2.8 kb of the EBHSV genome was determined from four overlapping cDNA clones. Sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame that contains part of the putative RNA polymerase gene and the complete capsid protein gene. This particular genome organization is shared by RHDV but not by other known caliciviruses. The deduced amino acid sequence of the capsid protein of EBHSV was compared with the capsid protein sequences of RDDV and other caliciviruses. The amino acid sequence comparisons revealed that EBHSV is closely related to RHDV and distantly related to other caliciviruses. On the basis of their genome organization, it is suggested that caliciviruses be divided into three groups.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Duration of excretion of virulent Newcastle disease virus following challenge of chickens with different titres of serum antibody to the virus.

Virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV) was isolated from susceptible and immune chickens following intra-ocular challenge with the Essex '70 strain. Challenge virus was isolated from the trachea and cloaca of susceptible birds until they died 7 to 9 days after challenge. This virus was isolated from immunised chickens for up to 14 days after challenge. The duration of excretion was influenced by the prechallenge serum antibody titre to NDV. It persisted longest in chickens with titres of 2(3) to 2(7) and decreased in length and frequency from chickens with titres in the range 2(8) to 2(12). Chickens with pre-challenge titres of 2(3) to 2(5) developed 2- to 3- fold increases in post-challenge titres, whereas those with higher pre-challenge titres had smaller proportional increases in titre. Excretion of virulent virus from immunised birds should be considered in the development of Newcastle disease control programs.

Animals↗

Generation of serotype 1/serotype 2 reassortant viruses of the infectious bursal disease virus and their investigation in vitro and in vivo.

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is the causative agent of acute or immunosuppressive disease in chickens. Serotype 1 strains are pathogenic whereas serotype 2 strains neither cause disease nor protect against infection with the serotype 1 strains. The target organ of serotype 1 strains is the bursa Fabricii (BF). The molecular determinants of this tropism, and therefore pathogenicity, are poorly understood. IBDV is a non-enveloped icosahedral virus particle of 60 nm in diameter, which contains two genome segments of double-stranded RNA. Here, the generation of interserotypic reassortants using the reverse genetics approach is reported. The results of in vitro and in vivo investigations show that genome segment A determines the bursa tropism of IBDV, whereas segment B is involved in the efficiency of viral replication; they further indicate the significance of the interaction of the polymerase (segment B) with the structural protein VP3 (segment A) or the viral genome for efficient virus formation and replication.

Animals↗

Brain lesions in chickens experimentally infected with a neuroadapted strain of mesogenic Newcastle disease virus.

Neuroadapted Newcastle disease virus (Q10) was selected by tenth serial passage, in the chicken brain of a mesogenic strain (Q0) originally isolated from quails. Specific pathogen-free birds were inoculated intranasally with one of these viruses. At daily intervals for 7 days and then at 10, 14, and 21 days post-inoculation (PI), two birds from each group were killed and samples of the brain were collected for histopathological and virological examination. Q10 caused severe nonsuppurative encephalitis with nervous signs and high mortality. Lesions characterized by neuronal degeneration and necrosis, perivascular lymphocytic infiltration, and focal or diffuse astrogliosis occurred mainly in the parahippocampal cortex, hippocampus, hyperstriatum, neostriatum, subleptomeningeal and periventricular regions of the cerebrum. Spongy changes with neuronal degeneration and axonal spheroids were also observed in the brain stem of a few cases. The amount of virus in the brain reached a peak on day 4 PI and virus could not be recovered from the brain after 6 days PI. In contrast, Q0 caused nonfatal asymptomatic disease and virus could not be isolated from the brain, sections of which showed only minimal inflammatory changes. This difference in the lesions of the brain might be related to neurovirulence and, neuroadaptation by serial passage may occur by increased efficiency of viral replication in neurons.

Animals↗

Borna disease virus: new aspects on infection, disease, diagnosis and epidemiology.

A 'disease of the head' affecting horses, as described in the 17th Century is now known as Borna disease. Research over the past 100 years has established that the aetiological agent, Borna disease virus (BDV), is an unsegmented, single- and negative-stranded, enveloped ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus which represents the family Bornaviridae in the order Mononegavirales. The virus exists world-wide in horses, sheep, cattle, cats, dogs and ostriches. The infection can be fatal, but the majority of carriers are persistently infected without showing symptoms. The association with psychiatric diseases in humans led to an international explosion of research on BDV, with centres established in Germany, the United States of America and Japan. Experimental infections of tree shrews and rats served to examine the effects of persistent and overt disease, most excitingly, virus-induced behavioural changes, and emotional and learning deficits. This 'emerging' virus infection shows complex pathogenetic mechanisms in the nervous system, but also spreads through myelo-monocytic cells. Diagnosis can be made serologically, but detection of antigen markers in peripheral white blood cells, combined with nucleic acid amplification is more profitable. Comparative RNA studies reveal an unusually high genetic homology of viruses. Isolates recovered from humans and equines suggest species-specificity. Vaccination is not an advisable strategy, but antiviral therapy, especially with amantadine sulphate, promises efficacy in human mood disorders, and is effective in vitro. Infections with BDV follow a vulnerability principle to cause disease. Although cross-species transmission of this commensal virus has not been proven, zoonotic aspects of BDV should be carefully considered.

Animals↗

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) causes an acute disease that can be lethal for adult laboratory mice.

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a picornavirus that causes an acute vesicular disease of cloven-hoofed animals. This virus continues to be threat to livestock worldwide with outbreaks causing severe economic losses. However, very little is known about FMDV pathogenesis, partially due to the inconveniences of working with cattle and swine, the main natural hosts of the virus. Here we demonstrate that C57BL/6 and BALB/C adult mice are highly susceptible to FMDV infection when the virus is administered subcutaneously or intraperitoneally. The first clinical signs are ruffled fur, apathy, humped posture, and wasting, which are followed by neurological signs such as hind-limb paralysis. Within 2-3 days of disease onset, the animals die. Virus is found in all major organs, indicating a systemic infection. Mice developed microvesicles near the basal layer of the epithelium, event that precedes the vesiculation characteristics of FMD. In addition, a lymphoid depletion in spleen and thymus and severe lymphopenia is observed in the infected mice. When these mice were immunized with conventional inactivated FMDV vaccine, they were protected (100% of vaccinated animals) against challenge with a lethal dose of FMDV. The data indicate that this mouse model may facilitate the study of FMDV pathogenesis, and the development of new effective vaccines for FMD.

Acute Disease↗

Evaluation of the suitability of six host genes as internal control in real-time RT-PCR assays in chicken embryo cell cultures infected with infectious bursal disease virus.

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) can cause disease in chickens characterized by immunosuppression and high mortality. Currently, real-time RT-PCR has been used to quantitate virus-specific RNA and to better understand host response to infection. However, normalization of quantitative real-time RT-PCR is needed to a suitable internal control. We thus investigated the expression pattern of six chicken genes, including beta-actin, 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), TATA box-binding protein (TBP) and beta-2-microglobulin, in chicken embryo (CE) cell cultures following a 7-day IBDV infection. The CE cells were inoculated with various multiplicity of infection (MOI) of IBDV vaccine strain Bursine-2, the expression of genes was measured by quantitative real-time PCR-based on cDNA synthesized from either normalized (100 ng) or non-normalized (10 microl) total RNA. The results showed that beta-actin, 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA and GAPDH were the most constantly expressed genes, while TBP and beta-2-microglobulin were markedly induced during the infection course. Of these constant expressed genes, 28S rRNA and 18S rRNA are highly expressed; beta-actin intermediately expressed and GAPDH had a lower expression level in CE cell cultures. Also, beta-actin showed no significant variation in both normalized and non-normalized assays and virus dose-independent of inoculation, while other genes did. beta-Actin was further successfully used as an internal control to quantitate Bursine-2 virus-specific RNA load in CE cell cultures. Thus, beta-actin was suggested as a suitable internal control in studying gene expression as well as virus-specific RNA load in CE cell after IBDV infection.

Animals↗

Cytokine expression in the rat central nervous system following perinatal Borna disease virus infection.

Borna disease virus (BDV) causes central nervous system (CNS) disease in several vertebrate species, which is frequently accompanied by behavioral abnormalities. In the adult rat, intracerebral (i.c.) BDV infection leads to immunomediated meningoencephalitis. In contrast, i.c. infection of neonates causes a persistent infection in the absence of overt signs of brain inflammation. These rats (designated PTI-NB) display distinct behavioral and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, the molecular mechanisms for these virally induced CNS disturbances are unknown. Cytokines play an important role in CNS function, both under normal physiological and pathological conditions. Astrocytes and microglia are the primary resident cells of the central nervous system with the capacity to produce cytokines. Strong reactive astrocytosis is observed in the PTI-NB rat brain. We have used a ribonuclease protection assay to investigate the mRNA expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines in different brain regions of PTI-NB and control rats. We show here evidence of a chronic upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukins-1alpha, and -1beta in the hippocampus and cerebellum of the PTI-NB rat brain. These brain regions exhibited only a very mild and transient immune infiltration. In contrast, in addition to reactive astrocytes, a strong and sustained microgliosis was observed in the PTI-NB rat brains. Our data suggest that CNS resident cells, namely astrocytes and microglia, are the major source of cytokine expression in the PTI-NB rat brain. The possible implications of these findings are discussed.

Animals↗

Insect cell-derived VP2 of infectious bursal disease virus confers protection against the disease in chickens.

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) has become a major problem in recent years. Conventional vaccines make use of attenuated or inactivated viral strains, but these are gradually losing their effectiveness. We investigated the possibility of using purified VP2, a subunit of IBDV structural protein expressed in insect cells, as a vaccine. The VP2 gene was cloned into pAcYM1. The cloned gene was expressed in a baculovirus system, giving rise to a high quantity of recombinant VP2 (rVP2) protein. The length of the VP2 is 453 amino acids, and it contains two additional amino acids of the baculovirus at the carboxyl terminus. The molecular mass of the protein is about 48 kD. The rVP2 protein reacted with antibodies raised against viral VP2 and had a similar molecular weight. This protein was tested in a controlled vaccination experiment and compared with an inactivated commercial vaccine. High levels of antibodies were raised by the vaccinated birds. The vaccinated birds were challenged with a pathogenic viral strain. rVP2-vaccinated chickens exhibited high resistance to the virus. No mortality or weight changes in the bursa of Fabricius were observed in the vaccinated birds, whereas in the negative control birds, vaccinated with phosphate buffer, up to 50% mortality was found. Higher levels of antibodies were found by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in birds vaccinated with rVP2 compared with those vaccinated with the commercial vaccine. This study suggests the potential use of the isolated rVP2 as a subunit vaccine.

Animals↗

Real-time RT-PCR analysis of two epitope regions encoded by the VP2 gene of infectious bursal disease viruses.

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) causes an immunosuppressive disease in chickens and leads to severe economic losses in the poultry industry. Vaccination may not be effective if there is exposure of the vaccinated flock to a different antigenic subtype, which reinforces the importance of identification of new IBDV variants. The virus outer capsid is constituted of VP2, in which the major neutralizing epitopes are located. Forty-eight bursa samples collected from IBDV infected commercial broiler flocks in the US were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR using probes designed for two epitope regions of VP2 denominated minor peak 1 and peak B. It was observed that 23, 48 and 44 samples tested with the minor peak probes Del-E, STC and F15, respectively, had a lower melting temperature (Tm) than expected. Furthermore, 44, 41 and 48 samples tested with the Del-E, STC and F15 peak B probes, respectively, had a lower Tm compared to the control, which indicates the presence of one or more nucleotide mutations in the samples. This fact was confirmed by nucleotide sequencing which also demonstrated that most mutations resulted in amino acid substitutions. Real-time RT-PCR can be a useful tool to assist in the development of more effective vaccination strategies.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Analysis of matrix protein gene nucleotide sequence diversity among Newcastle disease virus isolates demonstrates that recent disease outbreaks are caused by viruses of psittacine origin.

Nucleotide sequence analysis was completed for isolates of Newcastle disease virus (NDV; avian paramyxovirus 1) from 1992 outbreaks in cormorants and turkeys. These isolates were of the neurotropic velogenic type. The cormorant and turkey NDV isolates had the fusion protein cleavage sequence 109SRGRRQKR/FVG119, as opposed to the consensus sequence 109SGGRRQKR/FIG119 of most known velogenic NDV isolates. The R for G substitution at position 110 may be unique for the cormorant and turkey isolates. For comparative purposes, nucleotide sequencing and analysis of the conserved matrix protein gene coding region were completed for isolates representing all pathotypes. Phylogenetic relationships demonstrated that there are two major groups of NDV isolates. One group includes viruses found in North America and worldwide, such as B1, LaSota, Texas/GB, and Beaudette/C. The second group contains isolates, such as ulster/2C, Australia/Victoria, and Herts/33, considered exotic to North America. Within this second group are viruses of psittacine origin. The viruses from 1992 outbreaks of Newcastle disease in North America, and an isolate thought to have caused the major outbreak in southern California during the 1970s, are most closely related to an NDV isolate of psittacine origin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A rapid virus neutralization assay for Newcastle disease virus with the swine testicular continuous cell line.

Five continuous cell lines, swine testicular (ST), human rectal tumor (HRT 18), fetal rhesus monkey kidney (MA104), bovine turbinate (BT), and quail tracheal (QT35), were evaluated and compared with chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) for their ability to propagate B1 or Texas GB strains of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The NDV Texas GB strain replicated in all the continuous cell lines used in this study. Only the ST and QT35 cells produced a cytopathic effect (CPE) similar to that produced in CEFs. However, the ST cell line remained attached while displaying CPE, whereas infected QT35 cells detached, as did the CEFs. The B1 strain of NDV replicated in ST cells, MA104 cells, and CEFs but with less CPE as compared with the Texas GB strain. Pretreatment with trypsin did not enhance CPE with either NDV strain at the level tested. Sera evaluated for neutralizing antibody titers to NDV were significantly higher in titer when the ST cell line was used and compared with CEFs. A high correlation was found between the microscopic examination and the tetrazolium dye (MTT) microassay methods for determining the viral neutralization endpoint, thus suggesting the ST cell line and MTT microassay could be used as an alternative to CEFs and microscopic examination for evaluating neutralizing antibodies titers to NDV.

Animals↗

Mucosal disease-like lesions in sheep infected with Border disease virus.

An enteric disease characterised by diarrhoea and ill thrift affected 12 of a flock of 700 six- to 12-month-old ewe lambs in Cornwall between December 1996 and September 1997. The affected lambs were undersized, became thin and suffered an unremitting diarrhoea until they died. The illness lasted for three to 14 days, although, with hindsight, the owner considered that the lambs had been below average size before the enteric signs developed. The outbreak ceased only as a result of the dispersal sale of the flock as breeding ewes. The flock had been purchased from different sources, but 11 of the cases occurred in a group of 40 purchased from one source. Postmortem, the alimentary changes resembled mucosal disease in cattle, and immunostaining of histological sections of the affected tissues revealed pestiviral antigen. Non-cytopathic pestiviruses were isolated from the lesions of two of the affected lambs and from the blood of several clinically normal ewe lambs from the same group. All the pestivirus isolates were typed as Border disease virus.

Animals↗