Files
Abstract
Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) is a positive sense RNA virus that is a pathogen of fowl. Pathogenicity of IBV has classically been attributed to the spike glycoprotein. However, recent evidence in literature indicates that the polymerase genes play a role in pathogenicity. In this study the full-length genome of three homologous pathogenic parent and attenuated progeny strains of IBV were sequenced and examined. Comparative genomics were conducted on IBV strains: Ark-DPI pathogenic, Ark-DPI attenuated, GA98 pathogenic, GA98 attenuated, Mass41 pathogenic, and Mass41 attenuated. Within strains, differences between pathogenic and attenuated viruses were observed. Although the role these mutations play in pathogenicity must be examined, if they are verified they could be used to significantly improve IBV vaccine development.