Detection of avian adenovirus by polymerase chain reaction

An avian adenovirus-specific polymerase chain reaction was developed. The o rigin of primers was from the DNA sequence data of the chicken embryo letha l orphan avian adenovirus virus genome. An avian adenovirus-specific 421-bp DNA product was amplified by these primers from group I of adenovirus cont aining 12 serotypes and serotypes of adenovirus from group II and group III . The adenovirus-specific DNA product was also amplified from the 19 field isolates of avian adenoviruses but not from the mammalian adenovirus and ot her avian pathogenic viruses and bacteria. As little as 1 fg of avian adeno virus DNA was detected by gel electrophoresis and Southern blot analysis.