China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2021, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (12): 4661-4670.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2021.12.034

• Preventive Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Identification of Pathogen of Gosling Gout Using Viral Metagenomics

WANG Anping1, HAO Fuxing1, ZHANG Shuo2, XIE Jun1, LIU Li1, ZHU Shanyuan1   

  1. 1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Veterinary Bio-Pharmaceutical High Technology Research, Jiangsu Agri-Animal Husbandry Vocational College, Taizhou 225300, China;
    2. School of Food Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang 222005, China
  • Received:2021-06-08 Online:2021-12-20 Published:2021-12-02

Abstract: In order to determine the causative agent of gosling gout in a goose farm in Yancheng city in 2020, the samples were deeply sequenced by the method of viral metagenomics, and the suspected pathogens were found through the alignment of the original data.The whole genome sequence was obtained by de novo assembly, and the homology and phylogenetic analysis were done.The pathogen was verified by the isolation and identification of the suspected virus and animal regression test.The results of viral metagenome sequencing showed that a total of 599 733 original reads were obtained.There were 278 593 virus reads, of which Goose astrovirus sequences accounted for 95%, no other suspected virus sequences were found.The whole genome sequence was obtained by de novo assembly, which was 7 137 nt in length with the typical genomic characterization of other known avastroviruses, the isolated virus was named YC20, GenBank accession No.:MW536497.The results of similarity alignment showed that the YC20 isolate shared the highest identity of 98.2% with the Goose astrovirus strain SD01 in terms of the whole-genome sequence.The results of phylogenetic analysis showed that YC20 clustered together with the new type of Goose astrovirus.The results of virus isolation showed that no goose embryos died during their first 3 passages but the mortality rate reached 100% after the fifth passages.Meanwhile, no death or pathological changes were found in SPF chicken or duck embryos, and PCR results were negative.After negative staining, the virus particles of about 25 nm were observed under electron microscope.In the goose regression experiment, the infected goslings experienced a significant peak of death during days 6 to 8, resulting in a mortality rate of 58.3%.At necropsy, uric deposits in heart, liver, and articular cavity, as well as severe hemorrhage and kidney swelling were observed in dead goslings.The results suggested that the pathogen of gout in this goose farm was a new type of the new Goose astrovirus.In this study, the combination of viral metagenomics with traditional virus isolation techniques confirms the pathogen of goose gout, which had guiding significance for the identification and study of the pathogen.

Key words: gout; Goose astrovirus; viral metagenomics; isolation; identification

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