Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) belongs to the family Paramyxoviridae and genus morbillivirus. It is a highly contagious, fatal and economically important viral disease of small ruminants that is still endemic and militate against the production of sheep and goats in Nigeria. It is a notifiable disease according to the World Organization for Animal Health (Office International des Epizooties). In this study, a molecular analysis of PPRV from sheep and goats from recent outbreaks across the different regions of Nigeria was carried out. The aim was to describe the viral strains and the movement of the virus within the country compared to other endemic areas of the world. This was carried out through tissue and swab samples collected from sheep and goats in various agro-ecological zones of Nigeria.The evolution and relationship of earlier PPRV strains/isolates and those circulating and causing recent outbreaks was determined by sequencing of the nucleoprotein (N)-gene. Twenty tissue and swab samples from apparently healthy and sick sheep and goats were collected randomly from each of three states of each of the six agro-ecological zones visited. A total of 360 samples were collected. A total of 35 samples of 360 (9.7 %) tested positive by RT-PCR, of which 25 were from oculo-nasal swabs and 10 were from tissue samples (Table 4.2). Phylogenetic analysis was carried out using the N-gene sequences of the PPRV amplicons. Alignment of the sequences and related sequences from GenBank and neighbor-joining phylogenetic analysis using PAUP identified four different lineages, i.e. lineages I, II, III and IV. Interestingly, the Nigerian strains described in this study grouped in two separate major lineages i.e. lineages II and IV. Strains from Sokoto, Oyo, Plateau and Ondo states grouped according to the historical distribution of PPRV together with the Nigerian 75/1 strain of lineage II, while other strains from Sokoto, Oyo, Plateau, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, Kaduna, Lagos, Bauchi, Niger and Kano states grouped together with the East-African and Asian strains of lineage IV. This finding suggests that both lineages II and IV strains of PPRVs are circulating presently in Nigeria, contrary to an earlier publication which indicated that only strains of lineage II were circulating in the country (Shamaki, 2002). / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Veterinary Tropical Diseases / unrestricted

Les membres du genre Morbillivirus, famille Paramyxoviridae sont responsables de graves maladies chez l'homme et les animaux, comme la rougeole, la peste bovine (RP) et la peste des petits ruminants (PPR). Malgré l'existence de vaccins efficaces contre ces maladies, des traitements spécifiques sont souhaitables. L'inhibition de la réplication de ces virus peut-être acquise par interférence ARN (ARNi), un mécanisme d'inhibition post-transcriptionnel déclenché par des séquences courtes d'ARN double-brin (siARN). Le CIRAD a précédemment identifié 3 siARNs ciblant des régions conservées du gène de la nucléoprotéine virale capables d'inhiber au moins 80% de la réplication in vitro des virus de la rougeole, de la RP et de la PPR. Cependant, un problème majeur dans la stratégie d'ARNi est le risque d'apparition de virus résistants. Dans cette étude, nous avons évalué le risque d'apparition de mutants d'échappement du virus de la PPR sous pression de sélection de 3 siARNs appliqués seul ou en association après plusieurs transfections successives in vitro. Excepté pour la combinaison des 3 siARNs, le virus a échappé à l'ARNi après 3 à 20 passages consécutifs, avec des mutations simples ou multiples (synonymes ou pas) ou une délétion de 6 nucléotides dans la zone cible des siARN. Ces résultats mettent en évidence une plasticité génomique inattendue des morbillivirus surtout illustrée par cette délétion non-délétère d'une partie significative d'un gène viral essentiel, qui devrait être considérée comme un obstacle à l'utilisation de l'ARNi comme thérapie antivirale. Cependant, l'utilisation combinée de 3 siARNs peut être proposée pour diminuer le risque d'échappement aux siARNs. / Viruses in the genus Morbillivirus, within the family Paramyxoviridae are responsible for severe humans and animal diseases, including measles, rinderpest (RP) and peste des petits ruminants (PPR). In spite of the existence of efficient vaccines against these diseases, specific treatments to be applied when the infection is already present are desirable. Inhibition of morbillivirus replication can be achieved by RNA interference (RNAi), a mechanism of post-transcriptional gene silencing triggered by small double-stranded RNA (siRNA). The CIRAD previously identified three siRNAs that target conserved regions of the essential gene encoding the viral nucleoprotein and are able to prevent in vitro at least 80% of the replication of measles, RP and PPR viruses . However, a major problem in RNAi is the important risk of emergence of escape mutants. In this study, we investigated the ability of PPR virus to escape the inhibition conferred by single or multiple siRNAs after several consecutive transfections in vitro. Except with the combination of the three different siRNAs, the virus systematically escaped RNAi after 3 to 20 consecutive passages. The mutations were characterized by either single or multiple punctual nucleotide mutations (synonymous or not) or a deletion of a stretch of 6 nucleotides into the siRNA target. These results demonstrate that the genomic plasticity of morbilliviruses, illustrated maily by this significant and no-deleterious deletion in an essential viral gene, should be considered as an obstacle to the use of RNAi in antiviral therapy. However, the combined use of three siRNAs can be proposed to prevent treatment failure with siRNAs.