Whole genome characterization of Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus isolated from OPA infected sheep (India) and structural assessment (In-silico) of proteins of JSRV

Abstract

The study was conducted from 2017 to 2021 in sheep and goat population from Krishna, Guntur and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh. A total of 1256 clinically unhealthy animals out of which 420 animals were manifested respiratory emaciated symptoms based on wheelbarrow test, all aged between 3 months to 4 years. Molecular diagnosis confirmed 38 samples out of 420 samples confirmed by wheelbarrow test. The prevalence rate of JSRV induced OPA is 3.02 % the less infection rate was observed in male as compared to females’ animals and this prevalence during the late winter seasons. The size of 7462 bp genome was sequenced from pathomorphological diversified animal lung sample. The genomic analysis reveals a total of 506 SNPs variants were recorded. The phylogenetic studies reveal, the isolated strain is very similar to South African strains but it diversified from UK and China strain. The structural and functional assessment studies based on derived amino acid sequence showed nonsignificant changes in 3D structures of proteins encoded by the JSRV genome. The substitution mutations both at Nucleotide and Amino acid sequence level suggest neutral evolution and they are under minimal evolutionary pressure.