Abstract
The CD2-like African swine fever virus (ASFV) gene 8DR, (also known as EP402R) encodes for a structural transmembrane glycoprotein that has been shown to mediate hemadsorption and be involved in host immunomodulation as well as the induction of protective immune response. In addition, several natural ASFV isolates showing decreased virulence in swine has been shown to be non-hemadsorbing suggesting an association between altered or deleted forms of 8DR and virus attenuation. Here we demonstrate that deletion of 8DR gene from the genome of ASFV Georgia2010 isolate (ASFV-G-Δ8DR) does not significantly alter the virulence of the virus. ASFV-G-Δ8DR inoculated intramuscularly or intranasally (in a range of 102 to 104 TCID50) produced a clinical disease in domestic pigs indistinguishable from that induced by the same doses of the virulent parental ASFV Georgia2010 isolate. In addition, viremia values in ASFV-G-Δ8DR do not differ from those detected in animals infected with parental virus. Therefore, deletion of 8DR gene is not associated with a noticeable decrease in virulence of the ASFV Georgia isolate.
Highlights
The CD2-like African swine fever virus (ASFV) gene 8DR, encodes for a structural transmembrane glycoprotein that has been shown to mediate hemadsorption and be involved in host immunomodulation as well as the induction of protective immune response
ASFV isolate from Georgia in 2010 (ASFV-G)-Δ8DR, inoculated intramuscularly or intranasally, produced a clinical disease in domestic pigs comparable to that induced by similar doses of the virulent parental ASFV Georgia2010 isolate
The role of ASFV CD2-like protein in cell culture and for ASFV virulence in swine, a deletion virus that lacks the 8DR gene was designed. 8DR was deleted by replacing nucleotides 10–1083 of the 8DR coding region with p72GUS using methodologies that rely on homologous recombination
Summary
The CD2-like African swine fever virus (ASFV) gene 8DR, ( known as EP402R) encodes for a structural transmembrane glycoprotein that has been shown to mediate hemadsorption and be involved in host immunomodulation as well as the induction of protective immune response. Several natural ASFV isolates showing decreased virulence in domestic swine have been shown to be non-hemadsorbing suggesting an association between altered or deleted forms of the 8DR gene and virus attenuation[13,14,15].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
