Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel swine enteropathogenic coronavirus with worldwide distribution. PDCoV belongs to the Deltacoronavirus (DCoV) genus, which mainly includes avian coronaviruses (CoVs). PDCoV has the potential to infect human and chicken cells in vitro, and also has limited infectivity in calves. However, the origin of PDCoV in pigs, the host range, and cross-species infection of PDCoV still remain unclear. To determine whether PDCoV really has the ability to infect chickens in vivo, the three lines of chicken embryos and specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens were inoculated with PDCoV HNZK-02 strain to investigate PDCoV infection in the current study. Our results indicated that PDCoV can infect chicken embryos and could be continuously passaged on them. Furthermore, we observed that PDCoV-inoculated chickens showed mild diarrhea symptoms and low fecal viral RNA shedding. PDCoV RNA could also be detected in multiple organs (lung, kidney, jejunum, cecum, and rectum) and intestinal contents of PDCoV-inoculated chickens until 17 day post-inoculation by real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). A histology analysis indicated that PDCoV caused mild lesions in the lung, kidney, and intestinal tissues. These results prove the susceptibility of chickens to PDCoV infection, which might provide more insight about the cross-species transmission of PDCoV.

A B S T R A C TPorcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel porcine enteric coronavirus that causes diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration in piglets. This newly virus has spread rapidly and has caused serious economic losses for pig industry since the outbreak in USA in 2014. In this study, 430 faecal and intestinal samples (143 faecal samples and 287 intestinal samples) were collected from individual pigs with diarrhea and 211 serum samples were also collected from the sows with mild diarrhea in 17 regions in Henan province, China from April 2015 to March 2018. The RT-PCR detection indicated that the infection of PDCoV was high up to 23.49% (101/430), and coinfection with PEDV were common (60.40%, 61/101) in Henan pigs. The prevalence of PDCoV in suckling piglets was the highest (36.43%, 94/258). We also found that PDCoV could be detected in sows faeces and sera while the sows showed mild, self-limited diarrhea in clinic. The complete genomes of 4 PDCoV Henan strains (CH-01, HNZK-02, HNZK-04, HNZK-06) were sequenced and analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete genome, spike and nucleocapsid gene sequences revealed that the PDCoV Henan strains were closely related to other PDCoV reference strains that located in the Chinese clade. Furthermore, the phylogenetic analysis showed PDCoV CH-01 strain was closely related to CHN-HB-2014 strain and HKU15-44 strain, while the other PDCoV Henan strains were more related to PDCoV CHJXNI2 and CH-SXD1-2015 strains, indicating that the ancestor of these sequenced strains may different. These results would support the understanding of the prevalence and evolution characteristics of PDCoV in China.

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Rapidly approaching objects indicating threats can induce defensive response through activating a subcortical pathway comprising superior colliculus (SC), lateral posterior nucleus (LP), and basolateral amygdala (BLA). Abnormal defensive response has been reported in autism, and impaired synaptic connections could be the underlying mechanism. Whether the SC-LP-BLA pathway processes looming stimuli abnormally in autism is not clear. Here, we found that looming-evoked defensive response is impaired in a subgroup of the valproic acid (VPA) mouse model of autism. By combining the conventional neurotracer and transneuronal rabies virus tracing techniques, we demonstrated that synaptic connections in the SC-LP-BLA pathway were abnormal in VPA mice whose looming-evoked defensive responses were absent. Importantly, we further translated the finding to children with autism and observed that they did not present looming-evoked defensive response. Furthermore, the findings of the DTI with the probabilistic tractography showed that the structural connections of SC-pulvinar-amygdala in autism children were weak. The pulvinar is parallel to the LP in a mouse. Because looming-evoked defensive response is innate in humans and emerges much earlier than do social and language functions, the absence of defensive response could be an earlier sign of autism in children.

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel coronavirus that causes acute diarrhea in suckling piglets. In Henan province of China, three swine farms broke out diarrhea in different ages of pigs during June of 2017, March of 2018 and January of 2019, respectively. PCR method, Taqman real-time RT-PCR method, sequencing, histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were conducted with the collected samples, and the results showed that PDCoV was detected among the suckling piglets, commercial fattening pigs and sows with diarrhea. PDCoV-infected suckling piglets were characterized with thin and transparent intestinal walls from colon to caecum, spot hemorrhage at mesentery and intestinal bleeding. PDCoV RNA was detected in multiple organs and tissues by Taqman real-time RT-PCR, which had high copies in ileum, inguinal lymph node, rectum and spleen. PDCoV antigen was detected in the basal layer of jejunum and ileum by IHC. In this research, we found that PDCoV could infect various ages of farmed pigs with watery diarrhea and anorexia in different seasons in a year.

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