Identification, pathological, and genomic characterization of novel goose reovirus associated with liver necrosis in geese, China

Since 2021, a novel strain of goose reovi-rus (GRV) has emerged within the goose farming indus-try in Guangdong province, China. This particular viral variant is distinguished by the presence of white necrotic foci primarily localized in the liver and spleen, leading to substantial economic losses for the poultry industry. However, the etiology, prevalence and genomic characteristics of the causative agent have not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we conducted an epidemiological inquiry employing suspected GRV samples collected from May 2021 to September 2022. The macroscopic pathological and histopathological lesions associated with GRV-infected clinical specimens were examined. Moreover, we successfully isolated the GRV strain and elucidated the complete genome sequence of the isolate GD21/88. Through phylogenetic and recom-bination analysis, we unveiled that the GRV strains rep-resent a novel variant resulting from multiple reassortment events. Specifically, the mNS, lambda C, and sNS genes of GRV were found to have originated from chicken reovirus, while the sA gene of GRV exhibited a higher degree of similarity with a novel duck reovirus. The remaining genes of GRV were traced back to Mus-covy duck reovirus. Collectively, our findings underscore the significance of GRV as a pathogenic agent impacting the goose farming industry. The insights gleaned from this study contribute to a more comprehensive under-standing of the epidemiology of GRV in Southern China and shed light on the genetic reassortment events exhib-ited by the virus.