African swine fever virus (ASFV) is among the most complex DNA viruses known. Outbreaks have killed millions of swine around the world, and there is currently no vaccine. Three recent papers report the cryo-EM structure of the complete ASFV virion, comprising a viral particle of multiple layers, and resolve the major outer-capsid protein p72 to higher resolution. Progress in these reports provides a further understanding of the structure-function relationships of large viruses and should aid in ASFV vaccine development.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.H119.012169 | DOI Listing |
Viruses
January 2025
Institute of Virology, Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, D-30559 Hannover, Germany.
The first marine pestivirus, Phocoena pestivirus (PhoPeV), isolated from harbor porpoise, has been recently described. To further characterize this unique pestivirus, its host cell tropism and growth kinetics were determined in different cell lines. In addition, the interaction of PhoPeV with innate immunity in porcine epithelial cells and the role of selected cellular factors involved in the viral entry and RNA replication of PhoPeV were investigated in comparison to closely and distantly related pestiviruses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses
January 2025
Section for Veterinary Clinical Microbiology, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, DK-1870 Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Introduction of African swine fever virus (ASFV) into pig herds can occur via virus-contaminated feed or other objects. Knowledge about ASFV survival in different matrices and under different conditions is required to understand indirect virus transmission. Maintenance of ASFV infectivity can occur for extended periods outside pigs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPathogens
January 2025
National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for Swine Fever, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell' Umbria e delle Marche "Togo Rosati", 06126 Perugia, Italy.
African swine fever (ASF), characterized by high mortality rates in infected animals, remains a significant global veterinary and economic concern, due to the widespread distribution of ASF virus (ASFV) genotype II across five continents. In this study, ASFV strains collected in Italy during 2022-2023 from two geographical clusters, North-West (Alessandria) and Calabria, were fully sequenced. In addition, an in vivo experiment in pigs was performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Sci
January 2025
State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730030, China.
The vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-vectored African swine fever virus (ASFV) vaccine can induce efficient immune response, but the potential mechanism remains unsolved. In order to investigate the efficacy of recombinant viruses (VSV-p35, VSV-p72)-mediated dendritic cells (DCs) maturation and the mechanism of inducing T-cell immune response, the functional effects of recombinant viruses on DC activation and target antigens presentation were explored in this study. The results showed that surface-marked molecules (CD80, CD86, CD40, and MHC-II) and secreted cytokines (IL-4, TNF-α, IFN-γ) were highly expressed in the recombinant virus-infected DCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccines (Basel)
December 2024
State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, National African Swine Fever Para-Reference Laboratory, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin 150069, China.
Background/objectives: African swine fever (ASF), caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV), poses a significant threat to the global swine industry. This underscores the urgent need for safe and effective ASF vaccines.
Methods: Here, we constructed five bacterium-like particles (BLPs) that each display one of the five ASFV antigens (F317L, H171R, D117L, B602L, and p54) based on the Gram-positive enhancer matrix-protein anchor (GEM-PA) system.
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