Identification of Beak and Feather Disease Virus in an Unusual Novel Host (Merops ornatus) Using Nested PCR

Subir Sarker; Shubhagata Das; Karla Helbig; Shane R Raidal

doi:10.1128/genomeA.01376-16

Identification of Beak and Feather Disease Virus in an Unusual Novel Host (Merops ornatus) Using Nested PCR

Genome Announc. 2016 Dec 8;4(6):e01376-16. doi: 10.1128/genomeA.01376-16.

Authors

Subir Sarker¹, Shubhagata Das², Karla Helbig³, Shane R Raidal²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia s.sarker@latrobe.edu.au.
² School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Science, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

The complete genome sequence of beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) was discovered from a rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus), a species of Coraciiformes The genome consisted of 1,996 bp encoding two major bidirectional transcribed open reading frames. This is the first evidence of BFDV infection and complete genome characterization for this novel host species.

Grants and funding

We acknowledge the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding scheme for their financial support (grant number DP1095408). We are extremely grateful for financial support from the La Trobe University School of Life Sciences Publication Booster Award to S.S.