Zhenhua Guo

Classical swine fever (CSF), caused by CSF virus (CSFV), is a highly contagious disease affecting pigs and causing massive pig production losses with severe global economic recession. The immunization of live‐attenuated vaccines is still one of the key measures to CSFV management in endemic countries. However, there are also strong controversies about the usage of live‐attenuated vaccines, particularly in pregnant sows and young pigs, such as in Europe, where domestic pigs are routinely not vaccinated until severe outbreaks occur. Here, we report a CSF outbreak in a pig farm in China, which affected more than 90% of the delivery sows and led to ∼45% birth loss. Surprisingly, phylogenetic analysis showed that the CSFV isolate (named CSFV/HeNLY2022, GenBank No. OR195698) was clustered into subgenotype 1.1a, closely together with the live‐attenuated vaccine strains. Further genomic analysis also revealed that the isolate CSFV/HeNLY2022 shared the highest nucleotide identity of 99.7% with the C/HVRI vaccine strain (C‐strain, GenBank No. AY805221). Moreover, compared to the C/HVRI strain, a total of eight amino acid mutations, distributed in E^rns (H436^thY and S476^thR), E1 (T502^thI and P581^thT), E2 (M979^thK and A1061^thS), NS5A (A2980^thT), and NS5B (I3818^thM), were characterized in the CSFV/HeNLY2022 isolate. Our results suggested that the CSF outbreak was most likely caused by the live‐attenuated CSFV vaccine or its derivative. It raises concern that the unscientific application of CSFV vaccines could potentially lead to CSFV spread in pigs. It is needed to perform a more rigorous evaluation of the safety of the C‐strain‐derived vaccines in combination with other different live‐attenuated vaccines.

Outbreaks of hydropericardium hepatitis syndrome caused by fowl adenovirus serotype 4 (FAdV-4) with a novel genotype have been reported in China since 2015, with significant economic losses to the poultry industry. Fiber2 is one of the important structural proteins on FAdV-4 virions. In this study, the C-terminal knob domain of the FAdV-4 Fiber2 protein was expressed and purified, and its trimer structure (PDB ID: 7W83) was determined for the first time. A series of affinity peptides targeting the knob domain of the Fiber2 protein were designed and synthesized on the basis of the crystal structure using computer virtual screening technology. A total of eight peptides were screened using an immunoperoxidase monolayer assay and RT-qPCR, and they exhibited strong binding affinities to the knob domain of the FAdV-4 Fiber2 protein in a surface plasmon resonance assay. Treatment with peptide number 15 (P15; WWHEKE) at different concentrations (10, 25, and 50 μM) significantly reduced the expression level of the Fiber2 protein and the viral titer during FAdV-4 infection. P15 was found to be an optimal peptide with antiviral activity against FAdV-4 in vitro with no cytotoxic effect on LMH cells up to 200 μM. This study led to the identification of a class of affinity peptides designed using computer virtual screening technology that targeted the knob domain of the FAdV-4 Fiber2 protein and may be developed as a novel potential and effective antiviral strategy in the prevention and control of FAdV-4.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) has been epidemic more than 30 years in America and 20 years in China. It is still one of the most important causative agents to the worldwide swine industry. Here, we systematically analyzed the prevalence status of PRRSV in China by a molecular epidemiological perspective. Now both PRRSV-1 and PRRSV-2 are circulating and approximately more than 80% of pig farms are seropositive for PRRSV. For PRRSV-2, there are four lineages (lineage 1, lineage 3, lineage 5, lineage 8) circulating in the fields. Lineage 8 (CH-1a-like) and lineage 5 (BJ-4-like) appeared almost at the same time during 1995-1996. Notably, BJ-4 shares 99.6% and 99.8% identity with VR2332 and RespPRRS MLV, respectively. It means that lineage 5 is likely to be imported from America. Now highly pathogenic PRRSV (HP-PRRSV) which was considered to be evolved from local diversity of lineage 8 strains is predominant with different variants. Lineage 3 appeared in 2010 which is mainly sporadic in south of China. Lineage 1, also known as NADC30-like strains in China, has been prevalent since 2013 and leads to PRRS pandemic again. For PRRSV-1, although sporadic at present, more than 9 provinces/regions have been reported. All the circulating strains belong to subtype I. It should be paid more attention since there are no vaccines available. Our analysis would help to deeply understand the prevalent status of PRRSV in China and provide useful information for prevention and control of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).