Molecular detection of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) in cattle in Serbia

The presence of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) was examined in 110 samples of bovine nasal swabs collected between October 2007 and November 2015. BoHV-1 was detected in four samples by virus isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The phylogenetic analysis of glycoprotein B (gB) gene nucleotide sequences of all four BoHV-1 strains showed that they were 100% similar to each other and branched with BoHV-1 strains isolated in Egypt and USA. BoHV-1 strains isolated in Israel, India, Brasil and USA belonging to the second branch were 100% similar to each other and 98% to 99% similar to the strains from Serbia. The phylogenetic analysis of the tk gene nucleotide sequences of all four BoHV-1 strains showed that they were 100% similar and grouped together in one branch. BoHV-1 strains from USA and Australia clustered with Serbian BoHV-1 strains sharing similarity of 99%. BoHV-1 strains from India and USA clustered separately. The presented work is one of the first reports of the phylogenetic analysis of BoHV-1 isolates from Serbia