Novel avian paramyxovirus (APMV-15) isolated from a migratory bird in South America.

Dilmara Reischak,Maria Virginia Petry,Jansen De Araújo,Richard J Webby,Thomas Fabrizio,Tatiana Ometto,Jonas Waldenström,Carla Meneguin Barbosa,Edison Luiz Durigon,Luciano Matsumiya Thomazelli,David Walker

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177214

Abstract

A novel avian paramyxovirus (APMV) isolated from a migratory bird cloacal swab obtained during active surveillance in April 2012 in the Lagoa do Peixe National Park, Rio Grande do Sul state, South of Brazil was biologically and genetically characterized. The nucleotide sequence of the full viral genome was completed using a next-generation sequencing approach. The genome was 14,952 nucleotides (nt) long, with six genes (3’-NP-P-M-F-HN-L-5’) encoding 7 different proteins, typical of APMV. The fusion (F) protein gene of isolate RS-1177 contained 1,707 nucleotides in a single open reading frame encoding a protein of 569 amino acids. The F protein cleavage site contained two basic amino acids (VPKER↓L), typical of avirulent strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the whole genome indicated that the virus is related to APMV-10, -2 and -8, with 60.1% nucleotide sequence identity to the closest APMV-10 virus, 58.7% and 58.5% identity to the closest APMV-8 and APMV-2 genome, respectively, and less than 52% identity to representatives of the other APMVs groups. Such distances are comparable to the distances observed among other previously identified APMVs serotypes. These results suggest that unclassified/calidris_fuscicollis/Brazil/RS-1177/2012 is the prototype strain of a new APMV serotype, APMV-15.

Highlights

Avian paramyxovirus (APMV) belongs to the genus Avulavirus of the family Paramyxoviridae
Since 2005, the Laboratory of Virology of Institute Biomedical Science—USP has conducted an active surveillance programme in Brazil aimed at detecting the presence of avian influenza virus (AIV) and Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) in wild birds to assess the risk of introduction of such viruses to poultry
The RS-1177 sampled contained a coinfection of influenza A virus and paramyxovirus, it was obtained from an apparently healthy bird (Calidris fuscicollis) without clinical signs or apparent symptoms

Summary

Introduction

Avian paramyxovirus (APMV) belongs to the genus Avulavirus of the family Paramyxoviridae. Since 2005, the Laboratory of Virology of Institute Biomedical Science—USP has conducted an active surveillance programme in Brazil aimed at detecting the presence of avian influenza virus (AIV) and Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) in wild birds to assess the risk of introduction of such viruses to poultry. In this surveillance, AIV and NDV have been isolated from North American migratory birds wintering in Brazil [9,10]. As part of this programme, tracheal/cloacal swabs were taken from a white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis, order Charadriiformes), captured in April 2012 in the Lagoa do Peixe National Park, Rio Grande do Su state, in southern Brazil, from which a hemgglutinating agent was isolated in embryonating chicken eggs

Methods and results

Findings

Discussion