Coronavirus infection was investigated in apparently healthy wild peafowls in Guangdong province of China in 2003, while severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out there. No SARS-like coronavirus had been isolated but a novel avian coronavirus strain, Peafowl/GD/KQ6/2003 (KQ6), was identified. Sequence analysis revealed that KQ6 was an avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a member of coronavirus in group 3. The genome sequence of KQ6 had extremely high degree of identity with that of a Massachusetts prototype IBV M41. KQ6 was pathogenic to chickens but non-pathogenic to peafowls under experimental conditions. Seventeen out of fifty-four (31.48%) peafowl serum samples were tested positive for specific antibodies against IBV. Present results indicate that the peafowl isolate KQ6 is a Massachusetts prototype like coronavirus strain which undergoes few genetic changes and peafowl might have acted as a natural reservoir of IBV for very long time.
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