Generation of serotype 1/serotype 2 reassortant viruses of the infectious bursal disease virus and their investigation in vitro and in vivo

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is the causative agent of acute or immunosuppressive disease in chickens. Serotype 1 strains are pathogenic whereas serotype 2 strains neither cause disease nor protect against infection with the serotype 1 strains. The target organ of serotype 1 strains is the bursa Fabricii (BF). The molecular determinants of this tropism, and therefore pathogenicity, are poorly understood. IBDV is a non-enveloped icosahedral virus particle of 60 nm in diameter, which contains two genome segments of double-stranded RNA. Here, the generation of interserotypic reassortants using the reverse genetics approach is reported. The results of in vitro and in vivo investigations show that genome segment A determines the bursa tropism of IBDV, whereas segment B is involved in the efficiency of viral replication; they further indicate the significance of the interaction of the polymerase (segment B) with the structural protein VP3 (segment A) or the viral genome for efficient virus formation and replication.