Comparison of 3'-end encoding regions of turkey coronavirus isolates from Indiana, North Carolina, and Minnesota with chicken infectious bronchitis coronavirus strains.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the 3'-end structural protein-encoding region of turkey coronavirus (TCoV) isolates associated with outbreaks of acute enteritis in Indiana, North Carolina, or Minnesota.


METHODS
Four isolates of TCoV were sequenced over the entire 3'-end structural protein-encoding region and compared phylogenetically along with the corresponding sequences of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) strains.


RESULTS
The sequence similarity between TCoV and IBV was lower than that among TCoV isolates or that among IBV strains. The variation of sequences between TCoV and IBV was mainly contributed by the S protein gene. The sequence similarity of S gene between TCoV and IBV was lower than that among TCoV isolates or that among IBV strains. The phylogenetic tree based on the S protein region was similar to that based on the entire 3'-end structural protein-encoding region with TCoV isolates and IBV strains grouped in two separate clusters. The phylogenetic tree based on other genes had a very different topology with TCoV isolates randomly forming groups with different IBV strains.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggested that TCoV probably shared the same origin with that of IBV and acquired sequences of S gene for turkey intestine tropism during the process of evolution in a separate environment.
Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2065, USA.
Chien Chang
CC
Loa
Ching Ching
CC
Wu
Tsang Long
TL
Lin
D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000821:virology; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology; D004752:Coronavirus, Turkey / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004753:Enteritis, Transmissible, of Turkeys / Q000821:virology*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D007196:Indiana; D001351:Infectious bronchitis virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008910:Minnesota; D009657:North Carolina; D010802:Phylogeny; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D014422:Turkeys; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
D014764:Viral Proteins