Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of B2L Gene of ORF Virus from Clinical Cases of Sheep in Serbia

Abstract

Infection of sheep by the ORF virus (ORFV) is very common in Serbia. ORFV is an economically important viral disease, distributed worldwide. Phylogenetic analysis based on the B2L gene of Serbian ORFV strains from two outbreaks that occurred in Serbia in 2016 is presented in this paper. Crust formation around the lips, nostrils, and udder was noted in all animals from the first outbreak, whilst in the second outbreak, all animals showed swollen and cyanotic lips and muzzle, with no visible crusts. Virus isolation was conducted using Vero cells. Cytopathic effects were evident on the third passage. However, all examined samples were positive using PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of the partial gene sequences (terminal gene regions were not included) encoding B2L gene of Serbian ORFV isolates showed 97.33-100.00% nucleotide and 92.86-100.00% amino acid similarity between each other. However, the viruses were divided into two clusters within the previously recognized Group 2, together with viruses from Croatia, Greece, Finland, China, South Korea and North America. This study is the first report of phylogenetic analysis of ORFV from Serbia and contributes to the data available in the GenBank database. The results of our investigation showed genetic diversity between ORFV strains in Serbia.