First detection and molecular characterization of kobuvirus from a dog in Turkey

Canine kobuvirus (CaKVs) is a newly emerging virus detected in dogs in several countries. However, kobuvirus infection has not yet been described in domestic carnivores in Turkey. In this study, we tested blood and rectal swab samples to determine the presence of kobuvirus in a dog with clinical symptoms by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), using 3D (RNA polymerase) region primers of canine kobuviruses. To provide molecular characterization data, the Maximum Likelihood (ML) method was used for the phylogenetic analyses. The PCR product of the partial protein-coding region of the 3D protein gene from the rectal swab was amplified, purified, and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of amino acid sequences suggests that our CaKV strain was closely related to US-CaKVs, and placed on a monophyletic clade as a sister branch localized in the CaKV cluster. These results indicate that CaKV exists in dogs in Turkey. With a similarity of 94.2-96.1%, it is like other CaKVs. To our knowledge, this is the first report of CaKV infection of a dog by in Turkey. Further studies are needed to determine its role in dog gastrointestinal infections.