Detection and Typing of a Fowl Adenovirus Type 1 Agent of Pancreatitis in Guinea Fowl.

Adenoviral pancreatitis has been amply described for decades in guinea fowl. Although its pathologic picture has been characterized fairly well, its etiology still remains only partially clarified. Based on several outbreaks diagnosed on commercial guinea flocks raised in France since 2017, we performed direct whole-genome sequencing from pancreatic lesional tissue by using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) sequencing method. We generated 4781 viral reads and assembled a whole genome of 43,509 bp, clustering within fowl adenovirus type 1 (FAdV-1). A phylogenetic analysis based on a partial sequence of the hexon and short fiber genes on viruses collected in France showed 98.7% and 99.8% nucleotide identity, respectively. Altogether, these results confirm that an FAdV-1 closely related to chicken and other avian strains is the agent of pancreatitis in guinea fowl. This study illustrates the potential of ONT sequencing method to achieve rapid whole-genome sequencing directly from pathologic material.