Results:
Cases of contagious mouth disease in Finnish reindeer have been reported for many years. The symptoms of the disease include loss of appetite, fever, pustules and ulcers on the lips and mucous membranes of the mouth. The disease occurs typically in winter and it spreads easily both between animals and through environment causing considerable economic losses to the reindeer husbandry.
The most severe outbreak occurred in the winter 1992 - 1993, when approximately 400 reindeer died and about 2800 reindeer showed clinical signs of the disease. At that time, the presence of parapoxvirus (PPV) in clinical samples was demonstrated by electron microscopic studies and although the diagnosis was mainly based on clinical symptoms and pathology, Orf virus (ORFV) was generally considered to be the causative agent of the disease. To establish the aetiology and epidemiology of the disease and to develop reliable diagnostic methods for detection of PPVs a project was started in 1999 at EELA (now Evira) funded by MAKERA (Development Fund Agriculture and Forest) led by Professor Erkki Neuvonen and Anita Huovilainen, PhD. During this study different PCR assays were developed and used to screen the clinical samples from winter 1999 - 2000 as well as few samples from the earlier outbreak. Rather unexpectedly the results suggested that the recent outbreak of disease was caused by a PPV other than ORFV and moreover, no ORFV infection was detected in the winter 1999 - 2000 outbreak. Phylogenetic analysis of the PCR products revealed that the virus detected in 1999 - 2000 is most closely related to PCPV in contrast to the PPVs from 1992 - 1994 which were most closely related to ORFV.
Aims:
One of the most important goals of the current research is to further characterise the PPVs that have caused continuous problems in reindeer over the last 15 years. Currently a genome sequencing project of the 1999/2000 virus is being carried out, which will give new information on the PPV genes and the organisation of the genome in addition to confirming the origin of the disease. This is important in order to prevent this quickly spreading disease. The aim of the work is also to study the gene expression of the virus during its lifecycle. During the project PPV samples isolated from sheep and cattle are also analysed and will be compared using different methods (sequence and restriction enzyme analyses, indirect immunofluorecence assay and western blot using antibodies against different PPV epitopes) to PPV viruses of reindeer.
Keywords:
parapoxvirus, reindeer, PCR, genome sequencing
Responsible project leader:
McInnes, Colin, Dr., (Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh)
Person at Evira responsible for the project:
Hautaniemi, Maria, Researcher, Veterinary Virology Research Unit
Additional information on the project:
Sihvonen, Liisa, Research Director, Evira and Professor in Veterinary Virology, University of Helsinki, Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences
Research group:
Hautaniemi, Maria, Researcher, Evira, Veterinary Virology Research Unit;
Huovilainen, Anita, Senior Researcher, Evira, Veterinary Virology Research Unit
In cooperation with:
Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh;
University of Otago, New Zealand;
High Throughput Center, Biomedicum Helsinki;
Molecular Medicine Sequencing laboratory, KTL, Biomedicum Helsinki
Project status:
Previous
Year of commencement:
1999
Year of completion:
2012
Publications:
Hautaniemi, M.
Reindeer parapoxvirus: Molecular biology and detection.
University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Department of Biosciences, Division of General Microbiology.
Doctoral thesis.
Hautaniemi, M., Vaccari, F., Scacliarini, A., Laaksonen, S., Huovilainen, A., McInnes, C.J. Analysis of deletion within the reindeer pseudocowpoxvirus genome. Virus Research 2011: Vol. 160, No. 1-2, pp. 326-332.
Hautaniemi M, Ueda N, Tuimala J, Mercer AA, Lahdenperä J, McInnes CJ. The genome of Pseudocowpoxvirus: comparison of a reindeer isolate and a reference strain. J Gen Vir (2010) 91, 1560 – 1576.
Hautaniemi, M.
Transcription analysis of Pseudocowpoxvirus F00.120R genes.
XVIII International Poxvirus, Asfivirus and Iridovirus Symposium (5.-10.6.2010 : Sedona, Arizona, United States of America).
Poster.
Hautaniemi, M., Tapiovaara, H., Korpenfelt, S.L., Sihvonen, L. Genotyping and survey of scrapie in Finnish sheep. Prion2009 (23.9.-25.9.2009 : Chalkidiki, Greece).
Poster and abstract.
Maria Hautaniemi, Jarno Tuimala, Juhani Lahdenperä and Colin J. McInnes. Genomic features of Finnish reindeer parapoxvirus associated with the contagious mouth disease. Posteri, ESCV 2008 Annual Meeting 13-15.3.2008, Saariselkä
Maria Hautaniemi, Jarno Tuimala, Norihito Ueda, Andrew Mercer, Juhani Lahdenperä and Colin J. McInnes. The genome sequence of Finnish reindeer parapoxvirus and its relatedness to PCPV and ORFV. XVIIth International poxvirus and iridovirus Conference. Grainau, Germany 7.-12.6.2008
Tikkanen M, Hirvelä-Koski V, Neuvonen E, Huovilainen A. Orf- ja herpesviruksen merkitys porojen suutaudissa. Posteri. Eläinlääkäripäivät 2000, Messukeskus, Helsinki.
Tikkanen M, Hirvelä-Koski V , Nylund M , Neuvonen E, Sihvonen L, Huovilainen A. Parapoxvirus porojen suutaudin aiheuttajana 1999-2000. Posteri. NOR’s 11th Nordic Research Conference on Reindeer and Reindeer Husbandry. Kaamanen, 18-20.6. 2001.
M. K. Tikkanen, C. J. McInnes, A. A. Mercer, M. Bűttner, J. Tuimala, V. Hirvelä-Koski, E. Neuvonen and A. Huovilainen Recent isolates of Parapoxvirus of Finnish reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus tarandus) are closely related to bovine pseudocowpox virus. . J Gen Vir (2004) 85, 1413-1418.
Tikkanen Maria, McInnes Colin, Nettleton Peter, Hirvelä-Koski Varpu, Nulund Minna, Neuvonen Erkki and Huovilainen Anita. Parapoxvirus of Finnish reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus tarandus). Posteri. XIVth International poxvirus and iridovirus workshop. Lake Placid, New York, 20.-25.9.2002.
M. Tikkanen, C. J. McInnes, M. Buttner, A.A. Mercer, V. Hirvelä-Koski, M. Nylund, E. Neuvonen and A. Huovilainen. Parapoxvirus of Finnish reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus tarandus). Posteri. 6th International congress of veterinary virology. Saint-Malo, France, 24.-27.8.2003.
Evira's project code:
8232