Isolation and characterization of Infectious bursal disease virus VP2 gene isolated from Tirupati region of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Abstract

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is a highly contagious viral disease of birds characterized by lesions in the bursa of Fabricius, immunosuppression, severe morbidity and mortality. Due to amino acids substitutions in this region results in change in the topography of hyper variable region of VP2, where most of the neutralizing epitopes are present. Cloning and characterization of hyper variable region of prevalent strains of IBDV in this part of the country will provide basis for development of better vaccine for future. In the present study, we cloned four full length sequences of IBDV-VP2 with hyper variable region and found that all the cloned sequences have similar epitopes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that they are closely related to each other and are also closely related to strains of Luxembourg, China, and USA. This study will enhance the knowledge on IBDV circulating strains in this part of the country.