Kwon Hyuk Moo, Sung Haan Woo, Meng Xiang-Jin
Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Gangwon 200-701, Republic of Korea.
Virus Genes. 2012 Oct;45(2):237-45. doi: 10.1007/s11262-012-0761-6. Epub 2012 May 26.
Avian hepatitis E virus (avian HEV) is associated with hepatitis-splenomegaly (HS) syndrome or big liver and spleen disease in chickens. At least three genotypes of avian HEV have been identified from chickens worldwide. A total of 297 serum samples collected from chickens in 35 flocks in Korea were tested for avian HEV antibody with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results showed that approximately 57 % of chicken flocks and 28 % of chickens from Korea were positive for antibodies to avian HEV. Thirteen pooled fecal samples from chickens were tested for avian HEV RNA by RT-PCR, and three fecal samples were positive. The partial helicase and capsid genes of the Korean avian HEV isolates were determined, and sequence analyses revealed that the Korean avian HEV isolates were clustered together and closely related to the genotype 1 avian HEV from Australia. The complete genomic sequence of a Korean avian HEV strain HH-F9 from a broiler breeder was determined, and shown to be 6,653 nt in length, excluding the poly (A) tail, which is 1 nt shorter than the prototype avian HEV from chicken with HS syndrome in the United States. Compared to the full-length sequences of other 5 known avian HEV strains worldwide, the Korean avian HEV shared approximately 83-97 % nucleotide sequence identity. The finding that Korean avian HEV belongs to genotype 1 avian HEV which was previously identified only from chickens in Australia has significant implication in understanding the global epidemiology of avian HEV.
禽戊型肝炎病毒（avian HEV）与鸡的肝炎-脾肿大（HS）综合征或大肝大脾病有关。已从全球各地的鸡中鉴定出至少三种禽戊型肝炎病毒基因型。采用酶联免疫吸附试验对韩国35个鸡群采集的297份血清样本进行了禽戊型肝炎病毒抗体检测。结果显示，韩国约57%的鸡群和28%的鸡禽戊型肝炎病毒抗体呈阳性。对13份鸡的粪便混合样本进行逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测禽戊型肝炎病毒RNA，其中3份粪便样本呈阳性。测定了韩国禽戊型肝炎病毒分离株的部分解旋酶和衣壳基因，序列分析表明，韩国禽戊型肝炎病毒分离株聚集在一起，与来自澳大利亚的1型禽戊型肝炎病毒密切相关。测定了一株来自肉种鸡的韩国禽戊型肝炎病毒株HH-F9的完整基因组序列，结果显示其长度为6653个核苷酸（不包括poly（A）尾），比美国患有HS综合征的鸡的原型禽戊型肝炎病毒短1个核苷酸。与全球其他5种已知禽戊型肝炎病毒株的全长序列相比，韩国禽戊型肝炎病毒的核苷酸序列同一性约为83%-97%。韩国禽戊型肝炎病毒属于1型禽戊型肝炎病毒，此前仅在澳大利亚的鸡中发现，这一发现对了解禽戊型肝炎病毒的全球流行病学具有重要意义。
