FULL-LENGTH VP2 GENE ANALYSIS OF CANINE PARVOVIRUS REVEALS EMERGENCE OF NEWER VARIANTS IN INDIA MANGADEVI NOOKALA 1 ,HIRAK KUMAR MUKHOPADHYAY 1 *, AMSAVENI SIVAPRAKASAM 1 ,BRINDHALAKSHMI BALASUBRAMANIAN 1 , PRABHAKAR XAVIER ANTONY 1 ,JACOB THANISLASS 2 , MOUTTOU VIVEK SRINIVAS 1 and RAGHAVAN MADHUSOODANAN PILLAI 1 1 Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research, Puducherry, India 2 Department of Veterinary Biochemistry, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research, Puducherry, India (Received: 24 April 2016; accepted: 26 August 2016) The canine parvovirus (CPV) infection is a highly contagious and serious enteric disease of dogs with high fatality rate. The present study was taken up to characterize the full-length viral polypeptide 2 (VP2) gene of CPV of Indian origin along with the commercially available vaccines. The faecal samples from parvovirus suspected dogs were collected from various states of India for screening by PCR assay and 66.29% of samples were found positive. Six CPV-2a, three CPV-2b, and one CPV-2c types were identified by sequence analysis. Several unique and existing mutations have been noticed in CPV types analyzed indicating emergence of newer variants of CPV in India. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that all the field CPV types were grouped in different subclades within two main clades, but away from the commercial vaccine strains. CPV-2b and CPV-2c types with unique mutations were found to be establishing in India apart from the prevailing CPV-2a type. Mutations and the positive selection of the mutants were found to be the major mechanism of emergence and evolution of parvovirus. Therefore, the incorporation of local strain in the vaccine formulation may be considered for effective control of CPV infections in India. Keywords: canine parvovirus (CPV), mutation, phylogenetic analysis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequencing Introduction Canine parvovirus (CPV) infection is highly contagious and a serious enteric disease of dogs with high fatality rate. It is a member of the species *Corresponding author; E-mail: mhirak@rediffmail.com Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica 63 (4), pp. 411–426 (2016) DOI: 10.1556/030.63.2016.010 First published online November 15, 2016 1217-8950/$20.00 © 2016 Akadémiai Kiad´ o, Budapest