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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Virus and Prion Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #385876
Research Project: Intervention Strategies to Control Influenza A Virus Infection in Swine

Location: Virus and Prion Research

Title: Comparative analysis of novel strains of porcine astrovirus type 3 in the USA

Author
item FERREYRA, FRANCO - Iowa State University
item HARMON, KAREN - Iowa State University
item BRADNER, LAURA - Iowa State University
item BURROUGH, ERIC - Iowa State University
item DERSCHEID, RACHEL - Iowa State University
item MAGSTADT, DREW - Iowa State University
item MICHAEL, ALYONA - Iowa State University
item NUNEZ DE ALMEIDA, MARCELO - Iowa State University
item SCHUMACHER, LONI - Iowa State University
item SIEPKER, CHRIS - Iowa State University
item SITTHICHAROENCHAI, PANCHAN - Iowa State University
item STEVENSON, GREG - Iowa State University
item Arruda, Bailey

Submitted to: Viruses
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/14/2021
Publication Date: 9/17/2021
Citation: Sitthicharoenchai, P., Burrough, E., Arruda, B.L., Harmon, K., Bradner, L., Magstadt, D., Burrough, E., Derscheid, R., Michael, A., Nunez De Almeida, M., Schumacher, L., Siepker, C., Stevenson, G. 2021. Comparative analysis of novel strains of porcine astrovirus type 3 in the USA. Viruses. 13(9). Article 1859. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13091859.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/v13091859

Interpretive Summary: Porcine astrovirus type 3 (PoAstV3) has been previously identified as a cause of neurologic disease in swine and continues to cause mortality in the US swine herd Yet, very little is known concerning the genetic and antigenic variability of PoAstV3 in the US. Herein, we describe the genetic variability of PoAstV3 strains originating in the US and identify conserved antigenic epitopes of several novel PoAstV3 genomes. All PoAstV3 strains obtained from diagnostic cases clustered with other PoAstV3 strains previously described in the US. Across the US strains in the study, two predicted conserved antigenic epitopes were identified. These epitopes may aid in the design and development of vaccine components and diagnostic assays useful to prevent and control outbreaks of PoAstV3-associated CNS disease.

Technical Abstract: Porcine astrovirus type 3 (PoAstV3) has been previously identified as a cause of polioencephalomyelitis in swine and continues to cause disease in the US swine industry. Herein, we describe the characterization of both untranslated regions, frameshifting signal, putative genome-linked virus protein (VPg) and conserved antigenic epitopes of several novel PoAstV3 genomes. Twenty complete coding sequences (CDS) were obtained from 64 diagnostic cases originating from 11 individual farms/sources sharing a nucleotide (amino acid) percent identity of 89.74-100% (94.79-100%), 91.9-100% (96.3-100%) and 90.71-100% (93.51-100%) for ORF1a, ORF1ab and ORF2, respectively. Our results indicate that the 5’UTR of PoAstV3 is highly conserved highlighting the importance of this region in translation initiation while their 3’UTR is moderately conserved among strains, presenting alternative configurations including multiple putative protein binding sites and pseudoknots. Moreover, two predicted conserved antigenic epitopes were identified matching the 3’ termini of VP27 of PoAstV3 USA strains. These epitopes may aid in the design and development of vaccine components and diagnostic assays useful to prevent and control outbreaks of PoAstV3-associated CNS disease. In conclusion, this is the first analysis predicting the structure of important regulatory motifs of PoAstV3, which differ from those previously described in human astroviruses.