Vet World   Vol.13   January-2020  Article-25

Multilocus analysis of Gallid herpesvirus 1 in layer chickens in Iraq

Background and Aim: Infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) causes a highly pathogenic respiratory disease that affects poultry. It is also known as Gallid herpesvirus 1. ILT prophylaxis measures often include using live attenuated vaccines. The live attenuated vaccine can, however, lead to the formation of new strains of ILTV as a result of vaccine reversion and recombination with field strains. Therefore, this study was performed to explore the multilocus variation of ILTV strains of field and vaccine origin. Samples were tested from two distinctive geographical areas in Iraq as little is known about the ILTV genetic diversity within these areas.

Materials and Methods: The polymerase chain reaction method was utilized to generate sequencing templates of six highly polymorphic genes, including UL54, UL52, gB, ICP18.5, ICP4, and gJ in the layer chicken sample (n=15). The Western blotting technique was also employed to detect and estimate the native molecular weight of gE.

Results: The results revealed an important degree of genetic relatedness between the field and vaccine strains across all genes. In addition, gE was found to be expressed natively at 49 kDa.

Conclusion: The findings of this study may be used to improve the production process of the vaccine for more effective ILT prophylaxis and could further the understanding of epidemiologists and immunologists to better control ILT in the future. Keywords: Gallid herpesvirus 1, infectious laryngotracheitis virus, infectious laryngotracheitis, polymerase chain reaction.

Keywords: Gallid herpesvirus 1, infectious laryngotracheitis virus, infectious laryngotracheitis, polymerase chain reaction.

How to cite this article: Al-Saadi MHA (2020) Multilocus analysis of Gallid herpesvirus 1 in layer chickens in Iraq, Veterinary World, 13(1): 170-176.

Received: 13-09-2019  Accepted: 20-12-2019     Published online: 24-01-2020

Corresponding author: Mohammed Hamzah Abdulkadhim Al-Saadi   E-mail: mohammed.alsaadi@qu.edu.iq

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.170-176

Copyright: Al-Saadi MHA, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.