Genomic and epidemiological characteristics provide insights into the phylogeographic spread of goose astrovirus in China

Abstract

Goose astrovirus (GAstV) is an emerging pathogen with a wide distribution in China that causes visceral gout and leads to significant economic losses in the goose industry. Here, 10 GAstV strains were isolated from different farms in southeast China. We performed an integrated analysis of the full‐genome sequences of these new strains alongside comprehensive epidemiological surveillance information from the database. Interestingly, the results showed two distinct genotypes of GAstV, which were evolutionarily distant from each other. Group I GAstVs were closely related to DAstV IV, and group II strains were classified with duck astrovirus (DAstV) II and turkey astrovirus (TAstV) II. Further investigation showed that among the GAstV I strains, ZJC14 and AHDY differed from FLX. Comparative analysis of 58 available genomes clustered the GAstV II strains into two subgroups. We identified two major mutation sites, 456 (E/D) and 540 (L/Q), in the capsid protein, which were related to distinct subgroups according to evolution. GAstV II subgroup 1a strains are the predominant strains in the current prevalent epidemiology. Phylogeographic analysis based on 90 reported cases from 13 provinces revealed the complexity and severity of GAstV epidemics in China, within which Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces have suffered great impacts. According to these phylogeographic investigations, following the initial introduction of GAstV from Hunan Province, the dispersal of GAstV with different subgenotypes on a nationwide scale may be explained by the live gosling trade. Our findings have important implications for the evolution and dispersal of GAstV and will contribute to understanding the potential risk of GAstV.

Detection and Characterization of Goose Astrovirus Infections in Hatcheries and Commercial Goose Flocks

“…Tis was consistent with other reports that GoAstV is widely distributed in China [29][30][31]. Genomic sequence analysis revealed that all 15 isolates were assigned to the GoAstV-2 group, but a wide range of amino acid sequence variations were identifed in the capsid protein, including residues that were predicted to be associated with the formation of B cell antigenic epitopes [24]. According to the capsid protein sequences, the 15 isolates can be assigned to three capsid subgroups.…”

“…As such, we mapped the positions of the capsid and 15 substitutions mapped in the capsid spike domain, and fve substitutions (E456D, A464N, L540Q, S586T, and D587T) were located within the predicted antigenic epitopes, as described previously [24].…”

Infection and innate immune mechanism of goose astrovirus

“…Organic anion transporter 1 and OAT3 produce sodium gradients through Na-K-ATPase and are responsible for the transport of urate across the basolateral membrane ( Boocock et al, 2020 ). In other studies, the MRP4 mRNA level and Na-K-ATPase activity of infected goslings were particularly lower than those of the control group, showing that goose astrovirus infection reduced kidney secretory function ( Wang H. et al, 2022 ). Unfortunately, there are no reports on goose mRNA sequences; therefore, the change of OAT expression or activity after goose astrovirus infection remains to be studied.…”

Molecular epidemiology and virulence of goose astroviruses genotype-2 with different internal gene sequences

“…These strains belong to the typical features of GAstV genotype-2. Gout in poultry, also referred to as urate depositions or poultry urolithiasis, denotes the accumulation of excessive urate in the bloodstream, resulting in hyperuricemia that cannot be efficiently eliminated from the body (Xi et al, 2020;Wang Z. et al, 2022). There are two primary factors contributing to gout: excessive presence of uric acid in the body and disrupted host uric acid excretion (Bidin et al, 2012a,b;Wang et al, 2020;Dalbeth et al, 2021).…”

“…Adhering to the classification guidelines set by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), classification is often based on the p-distance (p-dist) calculated between the full amino acid sequences of the hosts and the structural protein (Zhang M. et al, 2022). Members of the same genotypes species typically exhibit p-dist values >75% within their complete capsid protein sequences (Wang H. et al, 2022). Significantly, the p-dists between GAstV genotype-1 and GAstV genotype-2 stand at 0.609 ± 0.021.…”