title: Detection and partial genetic characterisation of a novel variant of Avian nephritis virus in Indian poultry flocks showing diverse clinical signs.
abstract: Avian nephritis virus (ANV) infects poultry flocks worldwide, but no confirmed cases have been reported from India so far. In the current study, disease investigation was carried out in 21 broiler flocks at different parts of India with clinical signs of nephritis, uneven and stunted growth, diarrhoea, reduced body weight, and mortality up to 9.72%. Out of the 21 flocks screened, two were found positive for ANV in RT-PCR assay. BLAST analysis revealed that the ANV of Indian origin was closely related to ANV-1 strains reported from Japan, Hungary and China. However, comparison of a small portion (~12% of nucleotides, i.e. ~60 nts, common site for ANV-1 and ANV-3, position 2200-2260 of ORF 1a gene) of the Indian ANV sequence with ANV-3 sequences revealed 89-93% identities with different ANV-3 isolates. Phylogenetically, ANV-1 forms three clades, and the Indian ANV clustered under clade II. This study confirms the existence of ANV in Indian poultry flocks and is the first report on the molecular detection and genetic characterisation of ANV from India.
authors.affiliation: Avian Diseases Section, Division of Pathology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute , Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh - 243 122 , India.
authors.forename: Vasudevan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gowthaman
authors.affiliation: Avian Diseases Section, Division of Pathology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute , Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh - 243 122 , India.
authors.forename: Sambu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Avian Diseases Section, Division of Pathology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute , Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh - 243 122 , India.
authors.forename: Kuldeep
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dhama
authors.affiliation: Avian Diseases Section, Division of Pathology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute , Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh - 243 122 , India.
authors.forename: Rajamani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barathidasan
authors.affiliation: Poultry Disease Diagnosis and Surveillance Laboratory, Veterinary College and Research Institute Campus , Namakkal, Tamil Nadu , India.
authors.forename: Palani
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.affiliation: Poultry Disease Diagnosis and Surveillance Laboratory, Veterinary College and Research Institute Campus , Namakkal, Tamil Nadu , India.
authors.forename: Sellappan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saravanan
authors.affiliation: Poultry Disease Diagnosis and Surveillance Laboratory, Veterinary College and Research Institute Campus , Namakkal, Tamil Nadu , India.
authors.forename: Thippichettypalayam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gopalakrishnamurthy
authors.affiliation: Project Directorate on Cattle (ICAR) , Meerut, Uttar Pradesh , India.
authors.forename: Rajib
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Deb
authors.affiliation: Division of Virology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute , Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand , India.
authors.forename: Basavaraj
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mathapati
authors.affiliation: Division of Virology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute , Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand , India.
authors.forename: Muthannan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramakrishnan
keywords: Avian nephritis virus; ORF 1a gene; RT-PCR; astrovirus; clade II; phylogenetic analysis