Differentiation of infectious bursal disease virus strains using real-time RT-PCR and high resolution melt curve analysis

Differentiation of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) strains is crucial for effective vaccination programs and epidemiological investigations. In this study, a combination of real-time RT-PCR and high resolution melt (HRM) curve analysis was developed for simultaneous detection and differentiation of IBDV strains/isolates. The hypervariable region of VP2 gene was amplified from several IBDV strains and subjected to HRM curve analysis. The method could readily differentiate between classical vaccines/isolates and variants. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the amplicons from each strain revealed that each melt curve profile was related to a unique DNA sequence. The real-time RT-PCR HRM curve analysis was also able to differentiate IBDV strains/isolates directly in bursal tissues from field submissions and from vaccinated commercial flocks. The differences between melting peaks generated from IBDV strains were significantly different (P < 0.0001) demonstrating the high discriminatory power of this technique. The results presented in this study indicated that real-time RT-PCR followed by HRM curve analysis provides a rapid and robust technique for genotyping IBDV isolates/strains and can contribute to effective control of IBDV outbreaks.