Canine parvovirus-2 (CPV-2) is the aetiological agent of an infectious viral disease of dogs, characterised by diarrhoea and vomiting. Mutations of the CPV-2 genome have generated new variants circulating worldwide. This article reports the molecular analysis of CPV-2 variants collected in the dog population in southeast Anatolia, Turkey. Twenty blood samples previously taken for the laboratory diagnosis of dogs with suspected parvovirus were screened for CPV-2 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of the 20 samples, 18 tested positive for CPV-2. Partial VP2 gene sequencing and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis revealed CPV-2a (n = 1), CPV-2b (n = 16) and CPV-2c (n = 1) variants. Phylogenetic analysis based on the partial length VP2 gene showed that CPV-2b (n = 15) variants showed sequences clustering separately in the phylogenetic tree. The CPV-2c sample was phylogenetically related to Chinese strains and Indonesia strain, whereas the CPV-2a sample was phylogenetically related to the Portuguese strain. These results, which are the first to demonstrate the presence of CPV-2c in the dog population of southeast Anatolia, Turkey, indicate that CPV-2a/2b/2c variants co-exist in Turkey's dog population.
Keywords: Canine Parvovirus variants; RFLP; Turkey; molecular characterisation; restriction fragment length polymorphism.