Use of Avian Bornavirus Isolates to Induce Proventricular Dilatation Disease in Conures

Patricia Gray,H.L Shivaprasad,Negin Mirhosseini,Paulette Suchodolski,Itamar Villanueva,Kirsi S Honkavuori,Sanjay M Reddy,Thomas Briese,Susan Payne,Ian Tizard,Sharman Hoppes

doi:10.3201/eid1603.091257

Abstract

Avian bornavirus (ABV) is a newly discovered member of the family Bornaviridae that has been associated with the development of a lethal neurologic syndrome in birds, termed proventricular dilatation disease (PDD). We successfully isolated and characterized ABV from the brains of 8 birds with confirmed PDD. One isolate was passed 6 times in duck embryo fibroblasts, and the infected cells were then injected intramuscularly into 2 healthy Patagonian conures (Cyanoliseus patagonis). Clinical PDD developed in both birds by 66 days postinfection. PDD was confirmed by necropsy and histopathologic examination. Reverse transcription-PCR showed that the inoculated ABV was in the brains of the 2 infected birds. A control bird that received uninfected tissue culture cells remained healthy until it was euthanized at 77 days. Necropsy and histopathologic examinations showed no abnormalities; PCR did not indicate ABV in its brain tissues.

Highlights

Proventricular dilatation disease (PDD) is a progressive, invariably fatal neurologic disease that has been reported for >50 species of psittacine birds as well as many other bird species [1]
We describe the isolation and culture of avian bornavirus (ABV) from the brains of 8 psittacine birds with histopathologically confirmed proventricular dilatation disease (PDD)
duck embryonic fibroblasts (DEFs) cultures inoculated with samples from parrots displaying histopathologically confirmed PDD were positive by Western blotting (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Proventricular dilatation disease (PDD) is a progressive, invariably fatal neurologic disease that has been reported for >50 species of psittacine birds as well as many other bird species [1]. Kistler [7] used a panviral microarray to identify a bornavirus hybridization signature in 5 of 8 birds with PDD and 0 of 8 controls These investigators used ultra highthroughput sequencing combined with conventional PCRbased cloning to recover a complete viral genome sequence. Before this discovery, the family Bornaviridae contained only 1 species, Borna disease virus (BDV). RESEARCH tion is unclear [9,10] Studies undertaken in this laboratory have demonstrated some histopathologic similarities, in particular in the selective destruction of cerebellar Purkinje cells, between ABV and BDV infections of the brains of birds and mammals, respectively [11]. ABV apparently lacks a 22nt fragment that serves a regulatory function for the genes coding for viral proteins X and P

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Conclusion