Chronological expression and distribution of African swine fever virus p30 and p72 proteins in experimentally infected pigs

Taehwan Oh,Joo Young Lee,Lan Thi Nguyen,Danh Cong Lai,Duy Tien Do,Phan Van Le,Chanhee Chae

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-08142-y

Abstract

African swine fever virus (ASFV), the causative agent of contagious hemorrhagic disease in domestic pigs and wild boars, has temporally regulated gene expression kinetics. The p30 and p72 major structural proteins are involved in viral entry each with different expression kinetics, but neither of their chronological expressions and distribution have been identified in virus-infected animals. Here, we found that both transcription and translation levels of p30 were significantly higher than those of p72 in target organs during the earlier infection-phase. Lymphocyte apoptosis/necrosis and angiectasia were observed as signs of early infection with acute African swine fever. These results show that the chronologically differential expression of ASFV structural proteins tends to be prominent in infected animals, and the p30 protein could play a role in the indication of acute lesions during early infection compared to the late-expressed p72 protein. In conclusion, we propose to consider the chronological expression dynamics of ASFV structural proteins in infected animals to understand virus pathogenesis and antigen targeting for vaccine development.

Highlights

African swine fever virus (ASFV), the causative agent of contagious hemorrhagic disease in domestic pigs and wild boars, has temporally regulated gene expression kinetics
Chronological expression kinetics of ASFV genes were confirmed with differential expression of the early protein p30 and the late protein p72 in experimentally infected pigs
The differential expression of p30 and p72 was demonstrated in transcription levels measured by Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and translation levels measured by IHC, with a significant positive correlation between the two levels

Summary

Introduction

African swine fever virus (ASFV), the causative agent of contagious hemorrhagic disease in domestic pigs and wild boars, has temporally regulated gene expression kinetics. The p30 and p72 major structural proteins are involved in viral entry each with different expression kinetics, but neither of their chronological expressions and distribution have been identified in virus-infected animals. Lymphocyte apoptosis/necrosis and angiectasia were observed as signs of early infection with acute African swine fever These results show that the chronologically differential expression of ASFV structural proteins tends to be prominent in infected animals, and the p30 protein could play a role in the indication of acute lesions during early infection compared to the late-expressed p72 protein. Studies on the differential expression patterns of p30 and p72, and the cells expressing these structural proteins have yet to be conducted according to disease course in ASFV-infected pigs. The objective of the present study was to design a temporal pathology model of acute ASF to investigate the chronological expression and distribution of ASFV structural proteins in the progress of lesion development

Objectives

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Conclusion