Journal of Infection and Molecular Biology

Short Communication
J. Inf. Mol. Biol. 1 (4): 64 - 66
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Muhammad Munir1*, Sajjad Hussain Shah2, Muhammad Zubair Shabbir3, Mikael Berg4
1The Pirbright Institute, Compton Laboratory, RG20 7NN, United Kingdom; 2Veterinary Research Institute Lahore, Cantt, Pakistan; 3University Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan; 4Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala Sweden
*Corresponding author: muhammad@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Peste des petits ruminants is a highly contagious disease of domestic and wild small ruminants and camels. Despite continuous occurrence of the disease in Pakistan, limited information is available on the genetic diversity of the peste des petits ruminants’ virus (PPRV) in small ruminants. This study was performed to provide information on the molecular characteristics, genetic diversity and the phylogenetic relationship of PPRV strains causing continuous outbreaks in Punjab, Pakistan. The causative agent of two different outbreaks was confirmed to be PPRV using real–time PCR against the nucleoprotein (N) gene of the virus. Sequence analysis of the N gene of PPRV indicated that representative isolates were identical to each other. Notably, these PPRV strains were significantly distinct from previously characterized PPRV strains from Pakistan. The results indicate that there are at least two different genetic variants of PPRV circulating in Pakistani small ruminants. These findings are fundamental in developing national disease control policies, domestic vaccine strain, and improved disease diagnosis.

Key Words: Peste des petits ruminants, DNA sequencing, Small ruminants, Phylogenetic analysis.