Kaszab Eszter, Sós Endre, Bali Krisztina, Sós-Koroknai Viktória, Perge Edina, Ursu Krisztina, Marton Szilvia, Hoitsy Márton, Kemenesi Gábor, Bányai Krisztián
HUN-REN Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Tábornok u. 2., H-1143 Budapest, Hungary.
Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, H-1078 Budapest, Hungary.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Dec 30;15(1):60. doi: 10.3390/ani15010060.
Avian pox is a globally spread viral disease affecting a wide spectrum of wild and domesticated bird species. The disease is caused by a diverse group of large DNA viruses, namely, avipoxviruses (genus , family ). In this study, gross pathological examination and histopathological examination of skin lesions and several organs suggested acute poxvirus infection of a Eurasian crane (, Linnaeus, 1758). Avipoxvirus infection was confirmed by testing wart-like lesions via gene-specific PCR assay and sequencing the obtained amplicon. Phylogenetic analysis of the gene encoding the DNA polymerase revealed that the crane poxvirus clustered in clade A, subclade A3. A large fragment of the poxvirus genome (306,477 bp in length) was assembled from the DNA of a skin specimen. Our study reaffirms previous findings that even complex virus genomes can be determined from a metagenomic assemblage generated directly from avian tissue samples without prior virus isolation, a promising approach for the epidemiologic surveillance of avipoxvirus infections in wild birds and domestic poultry.
禽痘是一种全球传播的病毒性疾病，影响着广泛的野生和家养鸟类物种。该疾病由多种大型DNA病毒引起，即禽痘病毒（属，科）。在本研究中，对皮肤病变和多个器官进行大体病理检查和组织病理学检查，提示一只白枕鹤（，林奈，1758年）发生急性痘病毒感染。通过基因特异性PCR检测疣状病变并对获得的扩增子进行测序，证实了禽痘病毒感染。对编码DNA聚合酶的基因进行系统发育分析表明，鹤痘病毒聚集在A分支的A3亚分支中。从皮肤标本的DNA中组装出了痘病毒基因组的一个大片段（长度为306,477 bp）。我们的研究再次证实了先前的发现，即即使是复杂的病毒基因组也可以直接从鸟类组织样本产生的宏基因组组装中确定，而无需事先进行病毒分离，这是一种对野生鸟类和家禽中禽痘病毒感染进行流行病学监测的有前景的方法。
