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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #296245
Title: Comparative full genome sequence analysis of columbid herpesvirus-1 and falconid herpesvirus-1

Author
item Spatz, Stephen
item VOLKENING, JEREMY - Non ARS Employee
item ROSS, TERESA - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item GUO, YUFEI - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)

Submitted to: Herpesvirus International Workshop
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2013
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Columbid herpesvirus type 1 (CoHV-1) is an alphaherpesvirus in the genus Mardivirus that infect pigeons and causes fatal disseminated infections in birds of prey: owls, falcons and hawks. A common feature of captive raptures that have succumbed to CoHV-1 infection is that they all have been fed pigeons. Since the spread of CoHV-1 is by direct contact with infected birds or consumption it is believed that pigeons are the main source of infection. CoHV-1 isolated from pigeons and falcons are antigenically indistinguishable therefore serological assays are impossible. Diagnostic assays are largely based on the polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for the DNA polymerase gene. To investigate the genetic relationship between columbid herpesvirus-1 and falconid herpesvirus-1, the complete full-length nucleotide sequences were determined. The genomes are organized as type D with large inverted repeats flanking a unique short region. A multiple alignment of the two genomes identified few genetic differences outside of homopolymer stretches indicating falconid herpesvirus-1 is most likely columbid herpesvirus-1. The genomes are greater than 190 kg bases and encode 68 well characterized alphaherpesvirus genes. The repeat short sequences encoding ICP4 are unusually long with an extra 12 KB largely devoid of large open reading frames. Phylogenetically colombid herpesvirus-1 and falconid herpesvirus-1 are more related to the Anatid herpesvirus-1 (duck enteritis virus) than Meleagrid herpesvirus 1 (Turkey herpesvirus) and gallid herpesvirus-2 (Marek’s disease virus-1).