Molecular characterization of African swine fever virus from 2019‑2020
outbreaks in Guangxi province, southern China
Abstract
African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes contagious hemorrhagic disease
of pigs with high morbidity and mortality. To identify the molecular
characterization of ASFV strains circulating in Guangxi province,
southern China, tissue samples collected from domestic pigs that died as
a result of severe hemorrhagic disease during 2019-2020 were detected
for ASFV, and 66 representative ASFV strains from Guangxi province were
genetically characterized by sequence analysis of the C-terminal region
of B646L (p72) gene, the complete E183L (p54) gene, the variable region
of EP402R (CD2v) gene, the central variable region (CVR) of B602L gene,
and the tandem repeat sequence (TRS) within the intergenic region (IGR)
between the I73R and I329L (I73R/I329L) genes. Phylogenetic analysis
revealed that the ASFV strains from Guangxi province belonged to
genotype I and II based on the p72 and p54 genes, and there were eight
different tetrameric TRS variants based on the CVR of B602L gene.
Phylogenetic analysis of the CD2v gene revealed that these ASFV strains
belonged to serogroup IV and VIII. Eight of the 66 strains belonged to
genotype I and serotype VIII, and showed deletion of whole MGF505-2R
gene. The sequence analysis of the IGR between the I73R/I329L genes
showed that IGR II and III variants were co-circulating in Guangxi
province. The results indicated that ASFV strains circulating in Guangxi
province during 2019-2020 outbreaks showed highly genetic diversity, of
which genotype I and II strains, as well as serogroup IV and VIII
strains, were simultaneously epidemic, and there existed wild-type
strains and naturally gene-deleted strains in the field. This is the
first report on the molecular characterization of the ASFV strains
circulating in southern China.