Introduction

The canine distemper virus (CDV) has been responsible for the death of canine, wild feline, non-human primates and other animals. Sequence analysis of the hemagglutinin (H) gene has been widely employed to characterize field strains, with identification of 10 genotypes on the world. However, the H gene can be difficult to amplify directly from field samples because of its larger size (1824 bp). For this reason, recently has been described the use of fusion protein (fsp gene) to evaluate the phylogenetic relations between field strains of distemper virus. This last gene has not been studied in Colombia.

Objective

To determine the genotypic variability of fsp gene of canine distemper virus in vaccine and field strains in Bogotá D.C., Colombia.

Methods

Twenty-eight samples from seven (7) epidemiological events of canine distemper were selected from sample bank of Corpavet and La Salle University. Specimens were obtained between January 2014 to January 2015. Additionally, two vaccines distributed in Bogotá D.C. were processed as well.

Amplification and sequencing the fsp gene (fusión protein signal peptide) were performed.

Bioinformatic comparison between sequences were done. The data sequencing was edited by Mega 6 software, the substitution model was Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano. BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) was used to explore the similitude between Colombian strains and the fsp available data.

Results

We found a new linaje of CDV with fsp gene characterization. We suggest that it will be called SA4 as its counterpart with H gene.

Conclusions

A new variant of canine distemper virus was characterized. Analysis of the fsp gene allows finding phylogenetic differences.