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Comparison of the genome sequences of non-pathogenic and pathogenic African swine fever virus isolates

¹ Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Ash Road, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey GU24 0NF, UK
² Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada

Correspondence
Linda K. Dixon
linda.dixon{at}bbsrc.ac.uk

The genomic coding sequences, apart from the inverted terminal repeats and cross-links, have been determined for two African swine fever virus (ASFV) isolates from the same virus genotype, a non-pathogenic isolate from Portugal, OURT88/3, and a highly pathogenic isolate from West Africa, Benin 97/1. These genome sequences were annotated and compared with that of a tissue culture-adapted isolate, BA71V. The genomes range in length between 170 and 182 kbp and encode between 151 and 157 open reading frames (ORFs). Compared to the Benin 97/1 isolate, the OURT88/3 and BA71V isolates have deletions of 8–10 kbp that encode six copies of the multigene family (MGF) 360 and either one MGF 505/530 copy in the BA71V or two copies in the OURT88/3 isolate. The BA71V isolate has a deletion, close to the right end of the genome, of 3 kbp compared with the other isolates. The five ORFs in this region include an additional copy of an ORF similar to that encoding the p22 virus structural protein. The OURT88/3 isolate has interruptions in ORFs that encode a CD2-like and a C-type lectin protein. Variation between the genomes is observed in the number of copies of five different MGFs. The 109 non-duplicated ORFs conserved in the three genomes encode proteins involved in virus replication, virus assembly and modulation of the host's defences. These results provide information concerning the genetic variability of African swine fever virus isolates that differ in pathogenicity.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the sequences reported in this paper are AM712239 and AM712240.

A table showing the ORFs encoded by the BA71V, Benin 97/1 and OURT88/3 isolates is available as a supplementary material with the online version of this paper.