Sequence analysis of M2 gene of avian influenza virus strain (A/Chicken/Iran/101/98 (H9N2)) as an oil vaccine seed

In this study, the full-length M2 gene of the avian influenza virus (H9N2) was isolated, analyzed and studied in detail. Total RNA was extracted and cDNA of the M2 mRNA was obtained by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using random hexamer oligoes; specific primers were used for amplification of the M2 open reading frame (ORF) region. PCR was able to amplify the desirable fragment (294-bp) of the spliced M2 gene. The nucleotide sequence homology between the Iranian isolate and other H9 and H5 subtypes of influenza A from different hosts and geographical areas deposited in GenBank ranged from 92 to 98% and the amino acid sequence homology ranged from 97 to 100%.