Full genome sequence of guinea fowl coronavirus associated with fulminating disease

Guinea fowl coronavirus (GfCoV), a recently characterized avian coronavirus, was identified from outbreaks of fulminating disease (peracute enteritis) in guinea fowl in France. The full-length genomic sequence was determined to better understand its genetic relationship with avian coronaviruses. The full-length coding genome sequence was 26,985 nucleotides long with 11 open reading frames and no hemagglutinin–esterase gene: a genome organization identical to that of turkey coronavirus [5′ untranslated region (UTR)—replicase (ORFs 1a, 1ab)—spike (S) protein—ORF3 (ORFs 3a, 3b)—small envelop (E or 3c) protein—membrane (M) protein—ORF5 (ORFs 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b)—nucleocapsid (N) protein (ORFs N and 6b)—3′ UTR]. This is the first complete genome sequence of a GfCoV and confirms that the new virus belongs to group gammacoronaviruses. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11262-015-1183-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.