The present study aimed to establish a novel real-time fluorescent RT-PCR assay for detection of pigeon megrivirus(PiMeV).Specific primers were designed based on PiMeVs se-quences download from the GenBank,and positive fragments(designated as PiMeV-CHN001 strain)were amplified from racing pigeon feces.Then the 3C gene of PiMeV-CHN001 strain was obtained and analyzed.Based on the 3C molecular characterization,a real-time fluorescent RT-PCR method(RT-qPCR)was developed using the specific primers.The results demonstrated the 3C gene of PiMeV-CHN001 strain had 591 bp(coding 197 amino acids),with the nucleic acid se-quence homology with other wild urban pigeons(Columba livia)(MeV-B1 strain and MeV-B2 strain)was 89.5%and 92.0%,respectively.The RT-qPCR assay standard curve had the axial intercept of standard curve was 37.93 and the slope was-3.335,with a linear correlation(R2)of 1.00 and efficiency of 99.4%.The methods were specificity,no-cross amplification signal was found from other pigeon viruses(such as avian influenza virus,pigeon paramyxovirus type Ⅰ,pi-geon torque teno virus,pigeon adenovirus,and pigeon circovirus).Only one specific peaked with a melting temperature(Tm)was(81.69±0.22)℃ form PiMeV-CHN001,with no primer-di-mers peak represent.The lowest limit of detection concentration was 54.0 copies/μL.The intra-and inter-assay were less than 1.5%according to the repeatability test.The developed qPCR was used for PiMeV detection of 42 racing pigeon feces.2 positive(positive rate was 4.76%)signals were found.In conclusion,we firstly confirmed the presence of PiMeV in racing pigeons in Main-land China,and the data can enrich Megrivirus host spectrum.Moreover,the developed RT-qPCR assay also lays good foundation for further PiMeV epidemiological investigation.
关键词
信鸽/鸽微RNA病毒/3C基因/序列分析/实时荧光定量RT-PCR方法
Key words
racing pigeon/pigeon megrivirus/3C gene/sequence analysis/real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR assay