Phylodynamic analysis of avian infectious bronchitis virus in South America

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a coronavirus of chickens that causes great economic losses to the global poultry industry. The present study focuses on South American IBVs and their genetic relationships with global strains. We obtained full-length sequences of the S1 coding region and N gene of IBV field isolates from Uruguay and Argentina, and performed Phylodynamic analysis to characterize the strains and estimate the time of the most recent common ancestor. We identified two major South American genotypes, which were here denoted South America I (SAI) and Asia/ South America II (A/SAII). The SAI genotype is an exclusive South American lineage that emerged in the 1960s. The A/SAII genotype may have emerged in Asia in approximately 1995 before being introduced into South America. Both SAI and A/SAII genotype strains clearly differ from the Massachusetts strains that are included in the vaccine formulations being used in most South American countries.Fil: Marandino, Ana. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Pereda, Ariel Julián. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tomás, Gonzalo. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Hernández, Martín. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Iraola, Gregorio. Universidad de la República; Uruguay. Instituto Pasteur de Montevideo; UruguayFil: Craig, María Isabel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; ArgentinaFil: Hernández, Diego. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Banda, Alejandro. University Of Mississippi; Estados UnidosFil: Villegas, Pedro. University of Georgia; Estados UnidosFil: Panzera, Yanina. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Pérez, Ruben. Universidad de la República; Urugua