Evaluation of the molecular basis of pathogenicity of the variant Newcastle disease viruses termed “pigeon PMV-1 viruses”

Summary The amino acid sequence at the F2/F1 cleavage site was determined for 15 strains of the so-called pigeon PMV-1 (PPMV-1) variant of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) which showed close antigenic identity, determined by their reactions with a panel of 28 monoclonal antibodies, but considerable variation in their pathogenicity for chickens. Thirteen of the isolates possessed the motif¹¹²G-R-Q-K-R-F¹¹⁷. This motif was seen for one virus which had initially low pathogenicity and remained unaltered when virulence of the virus for chickens was increased by bird to bird passage. The two other viruses had the sequence¹¹²R-R-Q-K-R-F¹¹⁷ at the cleavage site which is more typical of virulent viruses, however, pathogenicity index tests indicated that these isolates were of moderate and low pathogenicity. The nucleotide sequence coding for the HN/HN0 extension region was determined for two of the PPMV-1 isolates. In both cases a stop codon was present indicating that the product for these viruses would be HN₅₇₁. We conclude that the wide variation in pathogenicity of the variant PPMV-1 for chickens is not related to variation in the amino acid motif at the F2/F1 cleavage site nor due to production of HN0 which may also influence pathogenicity. The high virulence of some of the viruses examined confirms that a double pair of basic amino acids in the region of the F2/F1 cleavage site is not necessary for the full expression of virulence.