Development of a highly immunogenic Newcastle disease virus chicken vaccine strain of duck origin

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strain NDRL0901 was developed as a live vaccine candidate for control of Newcastle disease. NDV isolate KR/duck/13/07 (DK1307) of duck origin was used as the selected vaccine strain. DK1307 was passaged 6 times in chickens. Then a single clone from the chicken-adapted virus (DK1307C) was finally selected, and the vaccine strain was named NDRL0901. DK1307C and the clone NDRL0901 viruses showed enhanced immunogenicity compared to the DK1307 virus. Principal component analysis based on fusion and hemagglutinin-neuraminidase genes revealed the codon usage pattern in the dataset is distinct separating duck viral sequences and avian sequences, and passage of the duck origin virus into the chicken host causes deviation in the codon usage pattern. The NDRL0901 virus was avirulent and did not acquire viral virulence even after 7 back passages in chickens. When day-old chicks were vaccinated with the NDRL0901 virus via spray, eye drops, and drinking water, the vaccinated birds showed no clinical signs and had significant protection efficacy (>80%) against very virulent NDV (Kr005 strain) infection regardless of the administration route employed. The results indicate that the NDRL0901 strain is safe in chickens and can offer protective immunity.