RESUMO
Fourteen H9N2 avian influenza viruses (AIV) were isolated from sick chickens in China from 1998 to 2008. The sequences of the Non-structural(NS) gene of these isolates were determined by RT-PCR and sequencing, and the entire ORF sequences of NS1 and NS2 protein were obtained.-The homology of these nucleotide sequences and the putative amino acid sequences were compared with several classic reference viruses of H9N2. These isolates were proved to be highly homologous in NS gene (92.9%-99.9% identity) and all belonged to A/Chicken/Beijing/1/1994-like group in the Asia bird-swine branch of allele A of HS gene phylogenetic tree.-According to this study and previous reports of other researchers, NS gene of H9N2 subtype AIV in chickens of China is genetically stable and there is no enough evidence to support the establishment of other sub-lineages in chickens.