Genetic and biological characteristics of recent Korean isolates of avian influenza virus subtype H9N2

Acharya, Madhav Prasad; Kwon, Hyuk-Joon; Kim, Il-Hwan; Lee, Youn-Jeong; Kim, Jae-Hong

doi:2012.52.4.223

Korean J Vet Res > Volume 52(4); 2012 > Article

Original Article

Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 2012;52(4):223-230.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14405/kjvr.2012.52.4.223 Published online December 31, 2012.

Genetic and biological characteristics of recent Korean isolates of avian influenza virus subtype H9N2

Madhav Prasad Acharya¹, Hyuk-Joon Kwon², Il-Hwan Kim¹, Youn-Jeong Lee³, Jae-Hong Kim¹

¹Laboratory of Avian Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University
²Research Institute for Veterinary Science, College of Veterinary Medicine and BK21 for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University
³Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency

Abstract

The worldwide distribution and continuing genetic mutation of avian influenza virus (AIV) has been posed a great threat to human and animal health. A comparison of 3 isolates of AIV H9N2, A/chicken/Korea/KBNP-0028/00 (H9N2) (KBNP-0028), A/chicken/Korea/SNU8011/08 (H9N2) (SNU 8011) and an inactivated oil vaccine strain A/chicken/Korea/01310/01 (H9N2) (01310), was performed. The former 2 AIVs were isolated from field cases before and after the application of an inactivated H9N2 vaccine in 2007, respectively. The antigenic relationship, viral shedding, tissue tropism and genetic analysis were examined. The comparison of virus shedding from the cloaca and the oropharynx revealed that both isolates were more frequently isolated from the upper respiratory tract (90~100%) 1 day post inoculation (DPI) compared with isolation 5 DPI from gastrointestinal tracts (10~60%). Moreover, the isolate KBNP-0028 were recovered from all organs including bone marrow, brain and kidneys, indicating higher ability for broad tissue dissemination than that of SNU 8011. KBNP-0028 replicated earlier than other strains and with a higher titer than SNU 8011. In full-length nucleotide sequences of the NA gene and a partial sequence of the HA gene of SNU 8011, we found that there might be significant changes in tissue tropism, virus replication and genetic mutation in AIV H9N2 isolates.

Key Words: avian influenza, highly pathogenic avian influenza, low pathogenic avian influenza, stalk deletion