UDC 636.52/58:619:578.826.1

doi: 10.15389/agrobiology.2014.6.59eng

DISTRIBUTION AND GENETIC VARIABILITY OF AVIAN HEPATITIS E VIRUS ON POULTRY FARMS IN ex-USSR

A.V. Sprygin, Z.B. Nikonova, Yu.Yu. Babin, N.P. Elatkin, A.V. Piskunov, V.N. Irza

Federal Centre for Animal Health, FGBU «VNIIZZh», mkr. Yur’evets, Vadimir, 600901 Russia, e-mail sprygin@arriah.ru, piskunov@arriah.ru, irza@arriah.ru

Received August 20, 2013


Russian commercial poultry industry is tightly tied to international trade. To date, avian hepatitis E virus (aHEV) has been isolated in Australia, US, Spain, Hungary, etc., being a serious threat to commercial poultry. In hens, aHEV affects liver and immune system, namely spleen and thymus, disrupting homeostasis and hematological parameters. In Russia, aHEV genetic identification was first reported in 2009, but the current epizootic situation in poultry remains to be unknown. In this paper we report the results of genetic analysis of 415 liver samples from hens and broiler chicks aged 4-56 weeks. The samples were obtained from 68 commercial farms in 36 regions of the Russian Federation and  4 commercial farms from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine during 2009 to 2012. A total of 14 isolates were detected and sequenced. Isolates of aHEV were detected in both clinically healthy and affected chickens. No agents causing similar clinical signs, i.e. leucosis virus, Marek’s disease virus and adenovirus, were identified. In Russia, aHEV was isolated in Amurskaya, Vologodskaya, Ivanovskaya, Kaluzhskaya, Moskovskaya, Samarskaya, Saratovskaya provinces, and also in the Republic of Mari El. Ross 308 hens showed highest PCR-positive rates (8 of 14 isolates). According to RT-PCR analysis of capsid protein gene (ORF2), aHEV18198, aHEV19555, aHEV16211, aHEV18479 and aHEV18481 of 14 Russian isolates fall within European genotype 3. The aHEV16211, aHEV18479, aHEV18481 isolates are related to Chinese (China-09-G57), US (NY449, CA697A) and European (06-4582) isolates, and aHEV18198 and aHEV19555 are related to those from Australia and USA (Guelph01, CA518.3). Of 14 aHEV isolates studied, 7 samples formed a distinct genetic group. Two more isolates, aHEV18381 and aHEV18505, groups outside the three genotypes described. Overall, the pool of HEV isolates identified in Russian chicken flocks consists of isolates belonging to European genotype 3 and isolates not yet assigned to a specific genotype. The analysis of genetic variability of aHEVs isolates from different countries strongly suggests that the current classification into genotypes by geographical origin should be revised.

Keywords: PCR, hepatitis E, hens.

 

Full article (Rus)

Full text (Eng)

 

REFERENCES

1. Payne C.J. Big liver and spleen disease. In: Diseases of poultry /Y.M. Saif, H.J. Barnes, J.R. Glisson, A.M. Fadly, L.R. McDougald, D.E. Swayne (eds.). Ames, Iowa State Press, 2003: 1184-1186. CrossRef
2. Shivaprasad H.L. Hepatitis splenomegaly syndrome. In: Diseases of poultry /Y.M. Saif, H.J. Barnes, J.R. Glisson, A.M. Fadly, L.R. McDougald, D.E. Swayne (eds.). Ames, Iowa State Press, 2003: 1186-1188.
3. Peralta B., Biarnes M., Ordonez G., Porta R., Martin M., Mateu E., Pina S., Meng X.J. Evidence of widespread infection of avian hepatitis E virus (avian HEV) in chickens from Spain. Vet. Microbiol., 2009, 137: 31-36. CrossRef
4. Morrow C.J., Samu G., Mátrai E., Klausz A., Wood A.M., Richter S., Jaskulska B., Hess M. Avian hepatitis E virus infection and possible associated clinical disease in broiler breeder flocks in Hungary. Avian Pathol., 2008, 37: 527-535. CrossRef
5. Irza V., Sprygin A. Big liver and spleen syndrome is a new viral disease in Russian chicken flocks. Agricultural Biology, 2012, 4: 73-77 (http://www.agrobiology.ru/4-2012irza-eng.html).
6. Emerson S.U., Anderson D., Arankalle A., Meng X.J., Purdy M., Schla-uder G.G., Tsarev S.A. Hepevirus. In: Virus taxonomy. VIIIth Report of the ICTV /C.M. Fauquet, M.A. Mayo, J. Maniloff, U. Desselberger, L.A. Ball (eds.). London, Elsevier/Academic Press, 2004: 851-855.
7. Huang F.F., Sun Z.F., Emerson S.U., Purcell R.H., Shivaprasad H.L., Pierson F.W., Toth T.E., Meng X.J. Determination and analysis of the complete genomic sequence of avian hepatitis E virus (avian HEV) and attempts to infect rhesus monkeys with avian HEV. J. Gen. Virol., 2004, 85: 1609-1618. CrossRef
8. Koonin E.V., Gorbalenya A.E., Purdy M.A., Rozanov M.N., Reyes G.R., Bradley D.W. Computer-assisted assignment of functional domains in the nonstructural polyprotein of hepatitis E virus: delineation of an additional group of positive-strand RNA plant and animal viruses. PNAS USA, 1992, 89: 8259-8263.
9. Tam A.W., Smith M.M., Guerra M.E., Huang C.C., Bradley D.W., Fry K.E., Reyes G.R. Hepatitis E virus (HEV): molecular cloning and sequencing of the full-length viral genome. Virology, 1991, 185: 120-131. CrossRef
10. Tyagi S., Korkaya H., Zafrullah M., Jameel S., Lal S.K. The phosphorylated form of the ORF3 protein of hepatitis E virus interacts with its non-glycosylated form of the major capsid protein, ORF2. J. Biol. Chem., 2002, 277: 22759-22767. CrossRef
11. Zafrullah M., Ozdener M.H., Panda S.K., Jameel S. The ORF3 protein of hepatitis E virus is a phosphoprotein that associates with the cytoskeleton. J. Virol., 1997, 71: 9045-9053.
12. Tokarev O.I. Patomorfologicheskaya kharakteristika timusa i selezenki kur pri virusnom gepatite E. Avtoreferat kandidatskoi dissertatsii [Pathomorphological features of thymus and spleen in hens with hepatitis E. PhD Thesis]. Voronezh, 2012.
13. El Morsi Ibrakhim. Rasprostranenie gepatita E sredi naseleniya endemichnykh i neendemichnykh regionov mira. Avtoreferat kandidatskoi dissertatsii [Distribution of hepatitis E in population of endemic and non-endemic territories. PhD Thesis]. Moscow, 2004.
14. Sun Z.F., Larsen C.T., Dunlop A., Huang F.F., Pierson F.W., Toth T.E., Meng X.-J. Genetic identification of avian hepatitis E virus (HEV) from healthy chicken flocks and characterization of the capsid gene of 14 avian HEV isolates from chickens with hepatitis-splenomegaly syndrome in different geographical regions of the United States. J. Virol., 2004, 85: 693-700. CrossRef
15. Bilic I., Jaskulska B., Basic A., Morrow C.J., Hess M. Sequence analysis and comparison of avian hepatitis E viruses from Australia and Europe indicate the existence of different genotypes. J. Gen. Virol., 2009, 90: 863-873 (doi: 10.1099/vir.0.007179-0).
16. Marek A., Bilic I., Prokofieva I., Hess M. Phylogenetic analysis of avian hepatitis E virus samples from European and Australian chicken flocks supports the existence of a different genus within the Hepeviridae comprising at least three different genotypes. Vet. Microbiol., 2010, 145: 54-61. CrossRef
17. Meng X.J., Shivaprasad H.L., Payne C.J. Avian hepatitis E virus infections. In: Diseases of poultry /Y.M. Saif, J.R. Fadly, L.R. McDougald, L.K. Nolan, D.E. Swayne (eds.). Blackwell Publishing Press, 2008: 443-452.
18. Kwon H.W., Sung H.W., Meng X.J. Serological prevalence genetic identification and characterization of the first strains of avian hepatitis E virus from chickens in Korea. Virus Genes, 2012, 45(2): 237-245. CrossRef
19. Todd D., Mawhinney K.A., McAlinden V.A., Douglas A.J. Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the serological diagnosis of big liver and spleen disease. Avian Dis., 1993, 37: 811-816. CrossRef
20. Billam P., Sun Z.F., Meng X.J. Analysis of the complete genomic sequence of an apparently avirulent strain of avian hepatitis E virus (avian HEV) identified major genetic differences compared with the prototype pathogenic strain of avian HEV. J. Gen Virol., 2007, 88(Pt 5): 1538-1544. CrossRef

back