Comparative pathogenicity of two closely related Newcastle disease virus isolates from chicken and pigeon respectively

Abstract Newcastle disease (ND), caused by virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is a highly contagious disease and has led to tremendous economic losses worldwide. Pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 (PPMV-1) is an antigenic and host variant of NDV. However, limited deep studies are available concerning side-by-side comparison of pathogenicity of PPMV-1 and its phylogenetically close NDV both in chickens and pigeons. To this end, two phylogenetically closely related NDV isolates, Kuwait 256 and JS/07/04/Pi from chicken and pigeon respectively were pathotypically and genotypically characterized in this study. The results indicated that Kuwait 256 was a velogenic strain, while JS/07/04/Pi was a mesogenic strain based on the mean death time of chick embryos (MDT) and intracerebral pathogenicity index in 1-day-old chicks (ICPI). Pathogenicity tests showed that Kuwait 256 caused severe clinical signs and 100% mortality, while JS/07/04/Pi caused no apparent disease in chickens. Kuwait 256 and JS/07/04/Pi both caused morbidity and mortality in pigeons. Notably, pigeons infected with JS/07/04/Pi exhibited viral shedding for longer time compared to Kuwait 256-infected pigeons. Collectively, the findings of this study suggested that PPMV-1 decreased the pathogenicity in chickens but gained a survival advantage over NDV of chicken origin after its adaptive variation in pigeons based on the previous proof that PPMV-1 originated from chicken-origin viruses. This study laid the foundation to reveal the molecular mechanism underlying difference in pathogenicity of PPMV-1 and chicken-origin NDV in chickens.