Abstract
In September 2016, clinical signs, indicative of bluetongue, were observed in sheep in Cyprus. Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) was detected in sheep, indicating the first incursion of this serotype into Cyprus. Following virus propagation, Nextera XT DNA libraries were sequenced on the MiSeq instrument. Full-genome sequences were obtained for five isolates CYP2016/01-05 and the percent of nucleotide sequence (% nt) identity between them ranged from 99.92% to 99.95%, which corresponded to a few (2–5) amino acid changes. Based on the complete coding sequence, the Israeli ISR2008/13 (98.42–98.45%) was recognised as the closest relative to CYP2016/01-05. However, the phylogenetic reconstruction of CYP2016/01-05 revealed that the possibility of reassortment in several segments: 4, 7, 9 and 10. Based on the available sequencing data, the incursion BTV-8 into Cyprus most likely occurred from the neighbouring countries (e.g., Israel, Lebanon, Syria, or Jordan), where multiple BTV serotypes were co-circulating rather than from Europe (e.g., France) where a single BTV-8 serotype was dominant. Supporting this hypothesis, atmospheric dispersion modelling identified wind-transport events during July–September that could have allowed the introduction of BTV-8 infected midges from Lebanon, Syria or Israel coastlines into the Larnaca region of Cyprus.
Highlights
Bluetongue virus (BTV) is the aetiological agent of bluetongue (BT), a non-contagious disease of domestic and wild ruminants that is transmitted by blood-feeding Culicoides midges [1]
BTV isolates sequenced in this study (n = 16) were assigned a genotype based on phylogenetic analysis of Segment 2 (Seg-2) (Table 1)
Two genotypes such as Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) and BTV-16B were detected in the isolates originating from Cyprus and five different genotypes (BTV-2A, BTV-5, BTV-8, BTV-12, and BTV-24) in the isolates from Israel
Summary
Bluetongue virus (BTV) is the aetiological agent of bluetongue (BT), a non-contagious disease of domestic and wild ruminants that is transmitted by blood-feeding Culicoides midges [1]. BT is a notifiable disease by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and suspicion of disease needs to be reported to government authorities due to its high impact on domestic ruminants. BTV belongs to the Orbivirus genus within the family Reoviridae and, as with other members of this genus, it has a linear double-stranded (ds) RNA genome consisting of 10 segments (Seg-1 to Seg-10). The BTV genome encodes for seven structural (VP1 to VP7) and five non-structural proteins (NS1 to NS5) [2,3]. BTV serotype identification primarily relies on the serum neutralisation test, which is based
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