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Characterization of an orf virus isolate from an outbreak in Heilongjiang province, China

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Abstract

Contagious ecthyma, caused by orf virus (ORFV), is an epitheliotrophic contagious disease with zoonotic implications that mainly affects sheep, goats, wild ruminants, and humans. Recently, a novel ORFV strain, OV/HLJ/04, was successfully isolated from the skin and mucosal lesions of a goat with severe clinical sore mouth symptoms in Heilongjiang province of China. The OV/HLJ/04 isolate was characterized by electron microscopy, serological tests, and experimental reproduction of disease. The purified virions exhibited a typical ovoid shape when observed by electron microscopy. Moreover, experimental reproduction of disease showed that a lamb developed typical clinical signs of contagious ecthyma, such as severe vascular proliferation, when inoculated with the virus. Subsequently, amplification of ORFV011 (B2L) gene fragments of viral DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene sequencing were performed. Phylogenetic analysis of the B2L protein gene revealed that this strain clusters with ORFV strains from epidemic-stricken areas worldwide, including recent mainland China isolates. Analysis using ClustalW MegAlign in DNAStar indicated that OV/HLJ/04 (GenBank: KU523790.1) was genetically closely related to the isolates Gansu (JQ904789), with 99.7% identity; NZ2 (DQ184476), with 97.4% identity; and Xinjiang (KF666560), with 90.6% identity. These results may provide insights into the genotype of the etiological agent responsible for the orf outbreak in Heilongjiang Province.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the NSFC (National Nature Science Foundation of China) Project of China, General Program (No. 31172353). We wish to thank Director Dr. Li Yu, associate researcher Dr. Fang Wang, Dr. Jitao Chang, and their coworkers from Division of Livestock Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, for kind help with MDBK cells and identification of virions. We also appreciate the generous help and technical support for the animal experiments from Dr. Feng Gao and Dr. Kui Zhao of the College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University. We thank Dr. Zhanbo Zhu and other staff members of the Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, for animal ethics approval.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virology Laboratory, College of Biological Science and Technology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, 2 Xinyang road, Daqing, 163319, China

    Yongzhong Yu, Qiang Tan, Wenbo Zhao, Xue Zhang, Jinzhu Ma, Zhijun Wu & Yudong Cui

  2. Virology Laboratory, Division of Animal Health, College of Animal Science and Technology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, 2 Xinyang road, Daqing, 163319, China

    Zhanbo Zhu

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  1. Yongzhong Yu
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  2. Qiang Tan
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  3. Wenbo Zhao
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  4. Xue Zhang
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  8. Yudong Cui
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Correspondence to Yudong Cui.

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Funding

This study was funded by NSFC (National Nature Science Foundation of China) (31172353).

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Yu, Y., Tan, Q., Zhao, W. et al. Characterization of an orf virus isolate from an outbreak in Heilongjiang province, China. Arch Virol 162, 3143–3149 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-017-3426-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-017-3426-x

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