Risk factors and genetic diversity of border disease virus in small ruminants in Nineveh province, Iraq

Abstract

Gathering information about the status of the Border disease virus (BDV) would limit its propagation and make monitoring efforts more effective. Numerous BDV genotypes are globally widespread, according to various reports. In Nineveh province-Iraq, the phylogenetic analysis and some associated risk factors of BDV virus in sheep were the subjects of this groundbreaking work. Blood samples from 264 sheep were collected in different regions of Nineveh province from the period between June till December 2022. The analysis for the sequences of BDV Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) was performed using the online GenomeNet multiple sequence alignment tool (CLUSTALW). Following that, the sequences were blasted against other available BDV virus strains in the GenBank using NCBI BLAST (BLASTn) of NCBI. Neighbor-joining (NJ) mode was used to create the phylogenetic trees. The result revealed that 15.9% (42/264) of sheep tested positive for BDV, and the associated epidemiological aspects, including herd size and interspecies management, had a significant impact of (P<0.05) on this rate. Forty-two 5' UTR sequences were subjected to individual sequence analysis, which identified the genotypes of BDV in Nineveh province for the first time. This finding could be potentially benefitting future studies and management of this disease status in the study zone.