Since July 2020, an infectious disease characterized by liver and spleen white focal necrosis has been spreading widely through geese farms in many regions of China. A novel goose orthoreovirus (GRV), designated GRV-GD2020, was isolated from the liver and spleen of dead geese. Phylogenetic analysis and sequence comparison revealed that all the genes of GRV-GD2020 clustered with other waterfowl-origin orthoreovirus. However, the gene constellation of GRV-GD2020 was not similar to that of any particular strain. Instead, the genomic segments of GRV-GD2020 showed 27.5-97.3% similarities to that of other waterfowl-origin orthoreovirus isolates. Waterfowl-origin orthoreovirus infections characterized by liver and spleen focal necrosis had not emerged in recent years. The re-emergence of the disease may be related to the recombination of the genome segments of Muscovy duck reovirus (MDRV), GRV, and new-type duck orthoreovirus. In summary, we determined that the GRV-GD2020 strain, causing goose liver and spleen focal necrosis, is a new variant of waterfowl-origin orthoreovirus.
Keywords: complete genome; focal necrosis; goose; orthoreovirus.
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