Molecular characteristics of major glycoproteins of the novel pseudorabies virus causing a severe epidemic in China

Objective In order to study the genetic characteristics of the novel epidemic pseudorabies virus (PRV).

Method A PRV strain named PRV AH was isolated from a pig farm in Anhui Province, the phylogenetic tree was constructed and the glycoproteins gB, gC, gD and gE of this strain were analyzed.

Result PRV AH was very similar to an epidemic strain which had caused a severe PRV outbreak in China since 2011, but was distantly related to Bartha or other foreign strains. Compared with Bartha and other foreign strains, all PRV strains in China had obvious deletions and insertions of continuous amino acids in the glycoproteins, and some mutations were found in the critical functional regions of the glycoproteins.

Conclusion This study analyzes the genetic differences between the novel epidemic PRV strain and Bartha strain at the molecular level, which provides a theoretical basis for further clarification of the immunization failure of Bartha-K61 vaccine.