Evidence for a new avian paramyxovirus serotype-10 detected in Rockhopper penguins from the Falkland Islands

Authors: Miller, Patti; Afonso, Claudio; Spackman, Erica; Scott, Melissa; PEDERSEN, JANICE - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); SENNE, DENNIS - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); BROWN, JUSTIN - University Of Georgia; FULLER, CHAD - Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA); UHART, MARCELA - Wildlife Conservation Society; KARESH, WILLIAM - Wildlife Conservation Society; BROWN, IAN - Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA); ALEXANDER, DENNIS - Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA); Swayne, David

Submitted to: Journal of Virology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/11/2010
Publication Date: 11/1/2010
Citation: Miller, P.J., Afonso, C.L., Spackman, E., Scott, M.A., Pedersen, J.C., Senne, D.A., Brown, J.D., Fuller, C.M., Uhart, M.M., Karesh, W.B., Brown, I.H., Alexander, D.J., Swayne, D.E. 2010. Evidence for a new avian paramyxovirus serotype-10 detected in Rockhopper penguins from the Falkland Islands. Journal of Virology. 84(21):11496-11504.

Interpretive Summary: Saliva, feces and blood from wild birds were examined to see if avian influenza virus (AIV) was present in birds of the Falkland Islands. While AIV was not found, another virus, an avian paramyxovirus (APMV), was identified in Rockhopper penguins. There are nine characterized groups or serotypes of APMV. Some of the APMV cause little or no disease in birds, but one, APMV1, causes Newcastle diseases and can kill 90 percent of infected birds. Therefore, it is important to find out which APMV this penguin had. The test used to identify which APMV this penguin virus was suggested that this virus was a new group, or a tenth APMV. When different tests were run, the results showed that this virus could be APMV8. Because of the conflicting results we searched for a way to distinguish new groups of APMV by looking at the amino acid sequences of the viral RNA. By comparing the sequences of the currently recognized nine APMV to this new penguin APMV we showed that while this virus is most closely related to APMV8 and APMV2, that it still was different enough to be a new APMV group, APMV10. It is important to be able to have a system to characterize new viruses.

Technical Abstract: The biological, serological and genomic characterization of a paramyxovirus recently isolated from rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome) suggested that this virus represented a new avian paramyxovirus group, APMV10. This penguin virus resembled other APMV by electron microscopy; however, its viral hemagglutination (HA) activity was not inhibited by antisera against any of the nine defined APMV serotypes. In addition, antiserum generated against this penguin virus did not inhibit the HA of representative viruses of the other APMV serotypes. Sequence data produced using random priming methods revealed a genomic structure typical of APMV. Phylogenetic evaluation of coding regions revealed that amino acid sequences of all six proteins were most closely related to APMV2 and APMV8. The calculation of evolutionary distances among proteins and distances at the nucleotide level confirmed that APMV2, APMV8 and the penguin virus all were sufficiently divergent from each other to be considered different serotypes. We propose that this isolate, named APMV10/penguin/Falkland Islands/234/2007, be the prototype virus for APMV10. Because of the known problems associated with serology, such as antiserum cross reactivity, one-way immunogenicity, in addition to the reliance on the immune response to a single protein, the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase, as the sole base for viral classification, we suggest the need for new classification guidelines that incorporate genome comparisons.