Author
 |
Day, James |
|
Zsak, Laszlo |
|
Submitted to: Avian Diseases
Publication Type: Review Article Publication Acceptance Date: 2/26/2013 Publication Date: 2/27/2013 Citation: Day, J.M., Zsak, L. 2013. Recent progress in the characterization of avian enteric viruses. Avian Diseases. 57(3):573-580. Interpretive Summary: Enteric disease is an ongoing problem for the poultry industry in the United States, yet remarkably little is known about the complex poultry gut microbial community and associated enteric disease syndromes such as Runting-Stunting Syndrome in broiler chickens and Poult Enteritis Complex in young turkeys. Researchers have made great strides recently in placing names to some of the unknown and un-described small viruses in the poultry gut such as parvoviruses, picornaviruses, picobirnavirus, and calicivirus. Investigation into the novel avian astroviruses continues, and recent progress has been made in the molecular characterization of the avian rotaviruses. This review will focus on the recent advances that have been made in the discovery, description and characterization of the multitude of viruses that reside in the poultry gut, with special attention given to the application of the “next generation” of nucleic acid sequencing technology to virus discovery and description. Technical Abstract: Despite the importance of the poultry gut, remarkably little is known about the complex gut microbial community. Enteric disease syndromes such as Runting-Stunting Syndrome in broiler chickens and Poult Enteritis Complex in young turkeys are difficult to characterize and reproduce in the laboratory. A great deal of work has been done to characterize the bacterial population in the poultry gut, leading to useful performance-based interventions such as direct-fed microbial preparations. Advances in the application of rapid molecular diagnostics and the advent of the next-generation of nucleic acid sequencing have allowed researchers to begin to decipher the microbial community in complex environmental samples. Researchers have made great strides recently in placing names to some of the unknown and un-described small viruses in the poultry gut such as parvoviruses, picornaviruses, picobirnavirus, and calicivirus. Investigation into the novel avian astroviruses continues, and recent progress has been made in the molecular characterization of the avian rotaviruses. This review will focus on the recent advances that have been made in the discovery, description and characterization of the multitude of viruses that reside in the poultry gut. |
