Dissecting Genetic Diversity and Evolutionary Trends of Chinese PRRSV‐1 Based on Whole‐Genome Analysis

Abstract

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) poses a serious threat to the Chinese swine industry. The etiological agent PRRSV can be classified as either PRRSV‐1 or PRRSV‐2. Recent studies have revealed an increase in the rates of PRRSV‐1 detection and a wider PRRSV‐1 distribution. However, the PRRSV‐1 genome in China has yet to be fully characterized. In this study, 24 whole PRRSV‐1 genomes from different swine farms were assembled and subjected to whole‐genome analysis. A phylogenetic analysis based on the complete genome and ORF5 sequences revealed that the PRRSV‐1 strains from China belonged to Western European Subtype I and could be classified into seven subgroups. Statistical analysis revealed that BJEU06‐1‐Like PRRSV is currently the predominant PRRSV‐1 strain. Moreover, a similarity analysis showed low pairwise similarity between most PRRSV‐1 genomes from different pig farms. Amino acid alignments of the Nsp2 gene revealed that the BJEU06‐1‐Like subgroup had five discontinued aa deletions (4 + 1). The new subgroup 1 had 11 continued aa deletions and an aa insertion, the new subgroup 2 had two discontinued aa deletions (1 + 1), and, except for in the case of HKEU16, the HKEU16‐Like subgroup had five discontinuous aa deletions (1 + 4). Recombination analysis revealed that the BJEU06‐1‐Like and NMEU09‐1‐Like strains participated extensively in recent recombination events. The analysis of positive selection suggested that there were 15 positively selected codons in site model, and there were five sites under positive selection in the BJEU06‐1‐Like subgroup in the branch‐site model. The mean rate and tMRCA for PRRSV‐1 strains from China were 4.11 × 10−3 substitutions/site/year and 1,969.63, respectively. Thus, it is crucial to strengthen epidemiological surveys of PRRSV‐1 in China, especially those monitoring BJEU06‐1‐Like PRRSV.