Genetic Diversity of LSDV Isolates from Menofeia Governorate, Egypt, Summer 2019 based on the G-Protein Coupled Chemokine Receptor (GPCR) Gene

Keywords An outbreak of lumpy skin disease (LSD) was recorded among cattle in summer 2019 at Menofeia Governorate, Egypt. Lumpy Skin Disease Virus (LSDV) isolation from skin nodules of suspected cattle (n=35) on embryonated chicken eggs chorioallantois membranes (ECEs CAMs) revealed pock lesion on CAMs after three passages. Twenty-six isolates were confirmed positive for LSDV by PCR using specific primers designated for the G protein-coupled chemokine receptor (GPCR) gene with the predicted amplicon size of 554 bp. Sequencing and analysis of the obtained amplified segment of GPCR for the three isolates were deposited in GenBank by accession numbers OP881988, OP881989 and OP881990. Phylogenetic analysis and several alignments of the resulting sequences of GPCR gene of recent LSDV circulating in Menofeia Governorate fell within the cluster of fields LSDV virulent strains with high nucleotide identity and did not reveal significant genetic variations when compare with local reference strains as well as vaccinal strains. These viral isolates have a high identity, in the range of 97.5%–100% with LSDV either isolated from Egypt as LSD Egy/BSU-1 (KJ561442) or different foreign countries such as Turkey (KR024774), and identity percentage was 95.9% with the LSDV vaccinal strains as LSD SIS-Lumpyvax (KX764643) and in the range of 92.6 to 93.2 with sheep poxvirus (SPPV) and goat poxvirus (GTPV) strains.