Recovery of divergent avian bornaviruses from cases of proventricular dilatation disease: Identification of a candidate etiologic agent

Kistler, Amy L; Gancz, Ady; Clubb, Susan; Skewes-Cox, Peter; Fischer, Kael; Sorber, Katherine; Chiu, Charles Y; Lublin, Avishai; Mechani, Sara; Farnoushi, Yigal; Greninger, Alexander; Wen, Christopher C; Karlene, Scott B; Ganem, Don; DeRisi, Joseph L

Although ABV is clearly a leading candidate etiologic agent in PDD, formally establishing a causal role for ABV in PDD will require further experimentation. Such experiments could include (i) attempts to satisfy Koch's postulates via cultivation of ABV, followed by experimental transmission of infection and disease in inoculees, (ii) examination of seroprevalence rates in flocks with high and low PDD incidences, (iii) documentation of seroconversion accompanying development of PDD-like illnesses and (iv) examination of PDD cases by immunohistochemistry or in situ hybridization for evidence of colocalization of ABV infection at sites of histopathology. The recovery and characterization of a complete ABV genome and multiple isolates from this diverse new branch of the Bornaviridae family now opens the door to such investigations.