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To clarify for the presence of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in Korea before 1986, in which the virus was first isolated, materials collected from chicken diagnostic consignments between 1980 and 1985 and propagated in chicken embryos or cell cultures were screened by the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) targeted to the nucleocapsid gene of the virus. Among 11 samples examined, one sample (IBV-SNU80108) submitted in 1980 showed specific PCR product (281 bp). When the amplified product was sequenced, together with IBV vaccine virus H120 strain, and compared with the data for ten other IBV strains derived from the GeneBank, identities between IBV SNU80108 and other strains in nucleotide and amino acid sequences ranged 96.3% to 63.7% and 96.4% to 69%, respectively. IBV SNU80108 was distinct from H120 strain by showing 91.9% and 92.9% identities in the respective sequences. This data suggested that IBV genetically distinctive from other foreign IBV strains might be present before 1986 in Korea.
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