Molecular and cellular biology: Gamma and Deltacoronaviruses in quail and pheasants from Northern Italy

In view of the restricted knowledge on the diversity of coronaviruses in poultry other than chicken, this study aimed to investigate the genetic di- versity of coronaviruses in quail, pheasant, and par- tridge from two regions of Northern Italy. To this end, pools of tracheal and cloacal swabs from European quail (Coturnix Coturnix) and intestinal tract from pheasants (Phasianus Colchicus) and partridge (Perdix Perdix) flocks, with or without enteric signs, were collected during 2015. Avian coronavirus (Gammacoronavirus) was detected in quail not vaccinated against Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) and in pheasants vaccinated with an IBV Massachusetts serotype. Based on DNA se- quences for the gene encoding the S protein, the avian coronaviruses detected in the quail and pheasant are related to the IBV 793B and Massachusetts types, re- spectively. However, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) analyses showed the susceptibility of quail also to Deltacoronaviruses, suggesting that quail and pheas- ant avian coronaviruses share spike genes identical to chicken IBV spike genes and quail might host Delta- coronavirus.