Although in the past phylogenetic studies have been impracticable as a routine tool, the greater availability
and increased speed of production of results obtained using sophisticated, commercially available kits for
RT-PCR and automatic sequencers now means such studies are within the capabilities of many more
diagnostic laboratories and can give meaningful results that are contemporaneous rather than retrospective
(Miller et al., 2010b). Aldous et al. (2003) proposed that genotyping of NDV isolates should become part of
diagnostic virus characterisation for reference laboratories by producing a 375-nucleotide sequence of the F
gene, which includes the F0 cleavage site, routinely for all viruses and comparing the sequences obtained
with other recent isolates and 18 viruses representative of the recognised lineages and sub-lineages. Such
analysis should allow rapid epidemiological assessment of the origins and spread of the viruses responsible
for ND outbreaks.