¹Laboratório de Virologia, Departamento de Microbiologia Imunologia e Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde (ICBS), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFGRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. ²FEPAGRO Saúde Animal – Instituto de Pesquisas Veterinárias Desidério Finamor (IPVDF) Eldorado do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; ³Médico Veterinário. *e-mail: [email protected]

Chicken anemia virus (CAV) is an economically important pathogen of poultry causing infectious anemia in chickens. This virus belongs to the Gyrovirus genus of the Circoviridae family. CAV is a non-enveloped, icosahedral virus with a negative sense, single stranded circular DNA genome of about 2,298 to 2,319 nucleotides (nt) in length. The CAV genome contains three partially overlapping reading frames that encode three viral proteins, VP1, VP2, and VP3. Here, the complete sequence of a CAV genome recovered from commercial broilers, named CAV_RS/BR/2015, is reported. Fecal samples were collected from apparently healthy poultry in four commercial flocks located in geographically distinct regions of Rio Grande do Sul state. Fecal contents were obtained directly from the intestinal tract of euthanized animals. Specimens were pooled (five samples from each flock), filtered and centrifuged at 10,0000 x g for 4 h on a sucrose cushion. The obtained pellet was resuspended in ultrapure water and treated with endonucleases. Subsequently, DNA was extracted with phenol-chloroform method. Sequencing was performed in a next generation sequencing apparatus. The full CAV genome recovered encompass 2,298 nucleotides (coverage ~502-fold), with a 475-base long NTR and 59.6% GC content. The genome organization showed typical features of previously reported CAV genomes, with three overlapping ORFs putatively coding for VP1 (1,350 nt), VP2 (651 nt) and VP3 (366 nt). The degree of sequence similarity between CAV_RS/BR/2015 and previously reported CAV genomes ranged between 95 to 100%. Comparing to CAV genome reference (accession number NC_001427), CAV_RS/BR/2015 has a 21-nt deletion located within the transcription-regulatory region. This deletion has been previously describe to others CAV genomes and has been associated to a better efficiency to replicate in vitro. However, future investigations should be carried out to examine whether such alteration might affect viral pathogenicity.