Investigation into the variation of infectious bronchitis virus serotypes in KwaZulu-Natal poultry flocks

Abstract

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a member of family Coronaviridae and is classified into group 3 of the Coronaviruses. The virus is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus with a genome of 27kbp. IBV is a highly infectious disease of chickens that results in high morbidity with moderate to severe mortality depending on the strain involved, age of the birds, and immune status of the chickens. Multiple worldwide investigations indicate that differentiation within the S1 glycoprotein gene can lead to serotype variation within the IBV species. In this study 46 isolates collected over two years from broiler and broiler breeder flocks and eight historical isolates were analyzed. Forty one isolates originated from the KwaZulu-Natal region whilst the remaining thirteen were isolated from 4 other poultry-dense provinces. The S1 gene was sequenced and compared to determine variation between South African isolates, as well as global sequences submitted to Genbank. The results indicate the division of isolates analyzed into 2 different clades of IBV within the province. The most prevalent genotype was similar to IBV Mass strain detected in 79% of the full S1 sequences. Variation up to 22.3% was detected within local strains, supporting the hypothesis that multiple IBV serotypes may co-circulate in the same region simultaneously. Additionally, more conservation was observed among Mass serotypes versus QX-like serotypes, implying that vaccine use can influence the variability within the IBV population. Higher variability was found in the first half of the S1 gene in comparison to the last half of the S1 gene. This is in agreement with previous findings that the hypervariable regions of the S1 gene are located within the first 450 base pairs. This study offers the first published consolidation of IBV isolates from South Africa and identifies variation within the IBV population of the SA broiler flock. Previous publications list four or five IBV isolates whilst this study describes variation found in 54 isolates spanning 32 years. In addition this study provides the insight into the prevalence of IBV variation in poultry flocks due to the large number of isolates. The comparative use of geno- and serotyping for South African IBV isolates is also described for the first time in this study.