African Swine Fever Virus

Complete genome analysis of African swine fever virus responsible for outbreaks in domestic pigs in 2018 in Burundi and 2019 in Malawi

“…Thus, the determination of the ASFV serogroups was suggested as a perfect tool for discriminating ASFV strains with different virulence and prediction of the efficacy of a specific ASFV vaccine (Burmakina et al 2016 ). Recently, genetic signatures specific to each ASFV serotype have been described with the potential of elucidating more on the genetic and antigenic diversity of the ASFV (Malogolovkin et al 2020 ; Urbano et al 2021 ). Interestingly, the ASFV strains described in this study had the PPPKPC amino acid sequences repeated 4 and 3 times in the BUR/18/Rutana and MAL/19/Karonga ASFV strains, respectively.…”

Understanding and combatting African Swine Fever

“…The inverted repeat sequences are further characterised by numerous tandem repeat arrays. It ranges in length between 165 and 194 kbp and encodes between 151 and 167 open reading frames (Alonso et al, 2018;Malogolovkin et al, 2020). These differences in genome size are primarily due to variable copy numbers of several multigene families (MGFs), located in the left-and right-hand variable regions of the genome.…”

“…In addition, a mechanism of rapid amplification of individual genes by gene duplication under selection pressure observed in poxviruses was recently proposed as a likely contributor to the differences in copy number of individual MGFs in ASFV . Haemadsorption inhibition assays and crossprotection in vivo experiments have allowed the definition of eight different ASFV serotypes and, recently, genetic signatures of serotype specificity have been identified, which opens new insights that may fill the knowledge gap between genetic and antigenic diversity (Malogolovkin et al, 2020).…”

“…ASFV replicates in cells of the mononuclear-phagocytic system, resident macrophages and specific reticular cells of natural hosts. In vitro, several isolates have been adapted to replicate in endothelial cell lines, a process that may lead to an attenuated phenotype (Alonso et al, 2018;Malogolovkin et al, 2020). Replication occurs mainly in the cytoplasm; although during early stages the nucleus is also a site of viral DNA synthesis Simões et al, 2015), its precise role in viral replication remains unclear.…”

The attenuated ASFV strains MK-200 and FK-32/135 as possible models for investigation of protective immunity by ASFV infection

“…Secondly, the notable plasticity of the viral genome is implemented in the vector transmission of the ASFV by the Ornithodoros soft ticks. Lastly, the virus exhibits considerable variety in phenotypic properties, including virulence, serotypic and immunotypic characteristics, and ability to induce hemadsorption [ 4 – 14 ]. The development of a protective immune response occurs in the natural hosts and in domestic pigs that recover from the infection and are challenged with a homologous isolate [ 15 ].…”