Seroepidemiologic Survey of Potential Pathogens in Obligate and Facultative Scavenging Avian Species in California

Straub, Mary H.; Kelly, Terra R.; Rideout, Bruce A.; Eng, Curtis; Wynne, Janna; Braun, Josephine; Johnson, Christine K.

Liver and lung tissue samples collected from 14 condors that died of various causes between 1997 and 2009 were also selected for detection of a subset of potential pathogens. These 14 condors had all been in captivity and in the wild at different points in their lives. Representative cases were selected for analysis based on availability of frozen tissues at San Diego Zoo Safari Park and degree of autolysis. Tissue samples were screened for presence of avian adenovirus, coronavirus (including infectious bronchitis virus), paramyxovirus and Mycoplasma spp. DNA from tissues was extracted using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA) following the manufacturer's protocol. RNA was also extracted from the lung tissue samples using the QIAamp cador Pathogen Mini kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA) following the manufacturer's guidelines. PCR primers were synthesized by Integrated DNA Technologies (San Diego, CA, USA) and were utilized in nine assays using the following primer pairs: adenovirus primers AdenokissF/AdenokissR [81] , coronavirus primers Corona8pF/Corona7mR [82] , IN-2F/IN-4R, Cor-p-F2/ Cor-p-R1 and Cor-p-F3/ Cor-p-R1 [83] , paramyxovirus primers NCD-3/NCD-4 [84] , ParamyxoP1/ParamyxoPR and ParamyxoP2 /ParamyxoPR [85] and Mycoplasma spp. primers MycogenusF/MycogenusR [86] and MycaldP/CapaldM [87] . Positive controls were available for adenovirus and Mycoplasma spp.