Development of a multiplex qRT-PCR assay for the detection of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus and porcine Deltacoronavirus.

Currently, porcine coronaviruses are prevalent in pigs, and due to the outbreak of COVID-19, porcine coronaviruses have become a research hotspot. porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus (TGEV), and Porcine Deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) mentioned in this study mainly cause diarrhea in pigs. These viruses cause significant economic losses and pose a potential public health threat. In this study, specific primers and probes were designed according to the M gene of PEDV, the S gene of TGEV, and the M gene of PDCoV, respectively, and TaqMan probe-based multiplex real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was developed for the simultaneous detection of PEDV, TGEV, and PDCoV. This method has high sensitivity and specificity, and the detection limit of each virus can reach 2.95 × 100 copies/µl. An assay of 160 clinical samples from pigs with diarrhea showed that the positive rates of PEDV, TGEV, and PDCoV were 38.13, 1.88, and 5.00%; the coinfection rates of PEDV+TGEV, PEDV+PDCoV, TGEV+PDCoV, PEDV+TGEV+PDCoV were 1.25, 1.25, 0, 0.63%, respectively. The positive coincidence rates of the multiplex qRT-PCR and single-reaction qRT-PCR were 100%. This method is of great significance for clinical monitoring of the porcine enteric diarrhea virus and helps reduce the loss of the breeding industry and control the spread of the disease.

Evaluation of immunogenicity and protective efficacy of recombinant outer membrane proteins of Haemophilus parasuis serovar 5 in a murine model.

Glässer's disease is an economically important infectious disease of pigs caused by Haemophilus parasuis. Few vaccines are currently available that could provide effective cross-protection against various serovars of H. parasuis. In this study, five OMPs (OppA, TolC, HxuC, LppC, and HAPS_0926) identified by bioinformatic approaches, were cloned and expressed as recombinant proteins. Antigenicity of the purified proteins was verified through Western blotting, and primary screening for protective potential was evaluated in vivo. Recombinant TolC (rTolC), rLppC, and rHAPS_0926 proteins showing marked protection of mice against H. parasuis infection, and were further evaluated individually or in combination. Mice treated with these three OMPs produced humoral and host cell-mediated responses, with a significant rise in antigen-specific IgG titer and lymphoproliferative response in contrast with the mock-immunized group. Significant increases were noted in CD4+, CD8+ T cells, and three cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, and IFN-γ) in vaccinated animals. The antisera against candidate antigens could efficiently impede bacterial survival in whole blood bactericidal assay against H. parasuis infection. The multi-protein vaccine induced more pronounced immune responses and offered better protection than individual vaccines. Our findings indicate that these three OMPs are promising antigens for the development of multi-component subunit vaccines against Glässer's disease.

PKR activation enhances replication of classical swine fever virus in PK-15 cells.

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious swine disease that is responsible for economic losses worldwide. Protein kinase R (PK)R is an important protein in the host viral response; however, the role of PKR in CSFV infection remains unknown. This issue was addressed in the present study using the PK-15 swine kidney cell line. We found that CSFV infection increased the phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF)2α and its kinase PKR. However, the expression of viral proteins continued to increase. Furthermore, PKR overexpression enhanced CSFV replication, while PKR inhibition resulted in reduced CSFV replication and an increase in interferon (IFN) induction. In addition, PKR was responsible for eIF2α phosphorylation in CSFV-infected cells. These results suggest that the activation of PKR during CSFV infection is beneficial to the virus. The virus is able to commandeer the host cell's translation machinery for viral protein synthesis while evading innate immune defenses.

Molecular phylogenetic and positive selection analysis of Japanese encephalitis virus strains isolated from pigs in China.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is one of the most important virus which causes encephalitis. This disease is most prevalent in the south, southeast and the east region of Asia. In this study, two JEV strains, named JEV/SW/GD/01/2009 and JEV/SW/GZ/09/2004, were isolated from aborted fetuses and seminal fluid of pigs in China. To determine the characteristic of these virus isolates, the virulence of two newly JEV isolates was investigated, the result evidenced that the JEV/SW/GD/01/2009 did not kill mice, while the JEV/SW/GZ/09/2004 displayed neurovirulence with 0.925log10 p.f.u./LD50. Additionally, the full genome sequences of JEV were determined and compared with other known JEV strains. Results demonstrated that the genome of two JEV isolates was 10,976 nucleotides (nt) in length. As compared to the Chinese vaccine strain SA14-14-2, the JEV/SW/GD/01/2009 and the JEV/SW/GZ/09/2004 showed 99.7% and 97.5% identity at the nucleotide level, 99.6% and 96.7% identity at the amino acid level, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis, based on the full-length genome revealed that two JEV isolates were all clustered into genotype III compared to the reference strains. Furthermore, selection analyses revealed that dominant selective pressure acting on the JEV genome was purifying selection. Four sites under positive selection were identified: codon 521 (amino acid E-227), 2296 (amino acid NS4b-24), 3048 (amino acid NS5-521) and 3055 (amino acid NS5-528). Amino acid E-227 was proved to be related to neurovirulence. Taken together, the molecular epidemiology and functional of positively selected amino acid sites of two newly JEV isolates were fully understood, which might be helpful to predict possible changes in virulence.