Abstract
Simple SummarySapelovirus (PSV) is known to infect pigs asymptomatically but, sporadically, can cause reproductive failure and severe neurologic, enteric, or respiratory signs. Sapelovirus infections have been reported worldwide in pigs. However, information about PSV circulation in Italy is unavailable and rarely investigated across Europe. In this study, we reported the circulation of PSV in three Italian pig farms and added novel information about evolutionary heterogeneity of PSV strains showing a low genetic correlation with the other strains detected worldwide. The present study gives information about PSV circulation in intensive pig farms and highlights the need for further investigation.Porcine sapelovirus (PSV) belongs to the genus Sapelovirus of the family Picornaviridae. PSV infects pigs asymptomatically, but it can also cause severe neurologic, enteric, and respiratory symptoms or reproductive failure. Sapelovirus infections have been reported worldwide in pigs. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence and the prevalence of PSV in Italian swine farms in animals of different ages to clarify the occurrence of the infection and the genetic characteristics of circulating strains. In the present study, 92 pools of fecal samples, collected from pigs across three farms, were analyzed by Reverse Transcriptase-polymerase Chain Reaction-PCR (RT-PCR). Fecal pools from young growers (63/64) were found positive for Sapelovirus in all farms while detection in sows (4/28) was observed in only one farm. Phylogenetic analyses of the 19 partial capsid protein nucleotide sequences (VP1) (6–7 each farm) enable the classification of the virus sequences into three distinct clades and highlighted the high heterogeneity within one farm. The whole genome sequence obtained from one strain showed the highest correlation with the Italian strain detected in 2015. The study adds novel information about the circulation and heterogeneity of PSV strains in Italy and considering the movement of pigs across Europe would also be informative for other countries.
Highlights
Sapelovirus is a non-enveloped virus with a single strand positive-sense RNA genome
The virus within the Picornaviridae family belongs to the genus Sapelovirus [1] which contains three species, with a unique genome organization: Sapelovirus A formerly known as porcine sapelovirus (PSV), Sapelovirus B as simian sapelovirus, and Avian sapelovirus represented by duck picornavirus [1]
To evaluate the PSV circulation in Italian pig farms, after the identification of several reads in an next-generation sequencing (NGS) study on hepatitis E virus (HEV) in pigs [21], the detection of PSV was conducted on total RNA extracted from a pool of feces collected from three farms by one-step RT-PCR, targeting the conserved 50 UTR
Summary
Sapelovirus is a non-enveloped virus with a single strand positive-sense RNA genome. The virus within the Picornaviridae family belongs to the genus Sapelovirus [1] which contains three species, with a unique genome organization: Sapelovirus A formerly known as porcine sapelovirus (PSV), Sapelovirus B as simian sapelovirus, and Avian sapelovirus represented by duck picornavirus [1].PSV consists of a single serotype, infects pigs and it is not known to infect humans.Animals 2020, 10, 966; doi:10.3390/ani10060966 www.mdpi.com/journal/animalsThe PSV genome is 7.5–8.3 kb length with the typical picornavirus genome organization, including a single open reading frame (ORF), which encodes for a polyprotein containing 12 mature proteins, structural and functional: a leader protein (L), four structural proteins (VP1–4), and seven nonstructural proteins (2A–C, 3A–D) [2].PSV is transmitted by the fecal–oral route and has been detected in clinically healthy animals as well as from animals affected by severe symptoms such as diarrhea, pneumonia, reproductive failure, and neurological disorders [3,4,5,6,7].The virus has been investigated in pigs worldwide with prevalence ranging between 7.1% in. The virus within the Picornaviridae family belongs to the genus Sapelovirus [1] which contains three species, with a unique genome organization: Sapelovirus A formerly known as porcine sapelovirus (PSV), Sapelovirus B as simian sapelovirus, and Avian sapelovirus represented by duck picornavirus [1]. PSV consists of a single serotype, infects pigs and it is not known to infect humans. The PSV genome is 7.5–8.3 kb length with the typical picornavirus genome organization, including a single open reading frame (ORF), which encodes for a polyprotein containing 12 mature proteins, structural and functional: a leader protein (L), four structural proteins (VP1–4), and seven nonstructural proteins (2A–C, 3A–D) [2].
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