For the study, researchers from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) - the chief intramural scientific research agency of USDA, used metagenomics to analyze nucleic acid from poultry intestine samples gathered from US commercial poultry flocks infected with enteric diseases.
The researchers were able to identify a new virus called "phiCA82" in turkeys that potentially could be used as an alternative to antibiotics to fight multi-drug-resistant pathogens in poultry. They also identified common avian viruses like astrovirus, reovirus and rotavirus, and RNA viruses belonging to the Picornaviridae family.
In addition, they discovered previously unknown turkey viruses like picobirnavirus, a virus implicated in enteric disease in other agricultural animals, and a calicivirus, a type of virus often associated with human enteric diseases.
