Novel characteristics of the avian gyrovirus 2 genome

Avian gyrovirus 2 (AGV2) was the second member of the viral genus Cyclovirus to be discovered. This virus poses a significant potential threat to humans and poultry due to its global dissemination and infectiousness. We used three overlapping polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) to map the whole genome of AGV2. We then modelled the evolutionary history of these novel sequence data in the context of related sequences from GenBank. We analysed the viral protein characteristics of the different phylogenetic groups and explored differences in evolutionary trends between Chinese strains and strains from other countries. We obtained 17 avian-sourced AGV2 whole genomes from different regions of China from 2015 to 2016. Phylogenetic analyses of these Chinese AGV2 sequences and related sequences produced four distinct groups (A–D) with significant bootstrap values. We also built phylogenies using predicted viral protein sequences. We found a potential hypervariable region in VP1 at sites 288–314, and we identified the amino acid changes responsible for the distinct VP2 and VP3 groups. Three new motifs in the AGV2 5′-UTR direct repeat (DR) region were discovered and grouped. The novel characteristics and diverse research on the AGV2 genome provide a valuable framework for additional research.