Genetic Characterization of an Avian Influenza Virus H4N6 Strain Isolated from a Guangxi Pockmark Duck

Liji Xie; Zhixun Xie; Aiqiong Wu; Sisi Luo; Minxiu Zhang; Li Huang; Zhiqin Xie; Jiaoling Huang; Yanfang Zhang; Tingting Zeng; Xianwen Deng

doi:10.1128/genomeA.00802-17

Genetic Characterization of an Avian Influenza Virus H4N6 Strain Isolated from a Guangxi Pockmark Duck

Genome Announc. 2017 Aug 24;5(34):e00802-17. doi: 10.1128/genomeA.00802-17.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Guangxi Veterinary Research Institute, Nanning, Guangxi Province, China xie3120371@126.com xiezhixun@126.com.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Guangxi Veterinary Research Institute, Nanning, Guangxi Province, China.

Abstract

An H4N6 subtype avian influenza virus was isolated from a pockmark duck in southern China in November 2013 and named A/duck/Guangxi/149D24/2013 (H4N6). All eight gene segments of the strain were sequenced. Sequence analysis indicated that this H4N6 virus was a natural reassortant virus. This H4N6 virus has two basic amino acids in the cleavage site of hemagglutinin 1 (HA1) and HA2, and the amino acid motif of cleavage site was PEKASRGLF, which is the typical characteristic of the low-pathogenic avian influenza virus. This study will help understand the epidemiology and molecular characteristics of avian influenza virus in pockmark ducks.