Molecular characterization of pathogenic and non-pathogenic fowl aviadenovirus serotype 11 isolates

Fowl aviadenoviruses, many of which are of importance in veterinary medicine, are classified into five species. In this study, a pathogenic isolate and a non-pathogenic isolate of fowl aviadenovirus serotype 11 (FAdV-11) of species Fowl aviadenovirus D were characterized. Growth rates were analyzed for the two isolates, showing notable differences. The complete genomic sequences of the viruses were fully determined and were analyzed. The genomes of the two isolates showed 98.1% sequence identity, and revealed six nonsynonymous mutations between the Ontario isolates. Two of the six mutations were also found in the sequences of recently published pathogenic Chinese fowl aviadenovirus 11 isolates, suggesting potential molecular markers that could be associated with pathogenesis. Deletions were found in the L5 region within the overlapping coding sequences for the 100 kDa, 22 kDa, and 33 kDa proteins and these were found in only the non-pathogenic isolates. This molecular pattern was identified in FAdV-9, another non-pathogenic FAdV-D species virus. Furthermore, the tandem repeat regions varied dramatically, the pathogenic isolates contained a reduced number of tandem repeats compared to the non-pathogenic isolates. Lastly, a protein produced early in infection was analyzed using bioinformatics to determine its role in disease. This study highlights several candidate molecular determinants of avian adenovirus genomes related to pathogenicity.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author