Phylogenetic relationships of the partial G gene sequence of bovine ephemeral fever virus isolated from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Turkey and Israel

Abstract

Bovine Ephemeral Fever Virus (BEFV) can cause an acute febrile disease in cattle and water buffalo. Since, the first BEFV JB76H strain was isolated in 1976, frequent epidemics of Bovine Ephemeral Fever (BEF) have been observed in Mainland China for over three decades. The phylogenetic relationships of the Glycoprotein (G) gene of BEFV derived from Mainland China and other areas and countries have not been analyzed. Therefore, the partial fragments (420 bp) of BEFV G gene were amplifiedand sequenced from JB76H and three field strains obtained from Mainland China. The amplified nucleotide and deduced amino acids sequences were compared with those ofother forty seven isolates from Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Turkey and Israel. The homologies of the nucleotide sequences were between 88.1 and 100% and those for the amino acid sequences were between 90.7 and 100%. Based on the corresponding nucleotide sequences, a phylogenetic tree was constructed by the neighbor-joining method using MEGA 5 Software in order to analyze the genetic relationships of fifty one isolates of BEFV. The phylogenetic tree showed that the isolates were grouped into three distinct lineages on the basis of their source.© Medwell Journals, 2012.