Identification and characterization of a plaque forming avian rotavirus isolated from a wild bird in Japan

From fresh faeces of a wild bird (Melanitta fusca), a virus that showed granular cytopathic effects (CPE) on chicken kidney cell (CKC) cultures was isolated. By indirect immunofluorescence analyses (IFA), this isolate reacted with an antiserum against a bovine rotavirus. The isolate produced clear plaques on CKC by conventional techniques, without trypsin. Three virus plaques were selected by plaque size (small, medium, and large) and cloned by three successive plaque cloning. In the SDS-PAGE analyses, dsRNA bands showed a typical profile of avian rotavirus and quite different from that of avian reovirus. With dsRNA patterns, IFA results, CPE, and a morphological property, the clones were identified as avian rotaviruses of group A rotavirus. The clones killed chicken embryos, when they were inoculated to yolk sac.