A QP509L/QP383R-Deleted African Swine Fever Virus Is Highly Attenuated in Swine but Does Not Confer Protection against Parental Virus Challenge
Dan Li, Panxue Wu, Huanan Liu, Tao Feng, Wenping Yang, Yi Ru, Li Pan, Xiaolan Qi, Zhengwang Shi, Haixue Zheng
Abstract
African swine fever (ASF) is endemic to several parts of the word, with outbreaks of the disease devastating the swine farming industry; currently, no commercially available vaccine exists. Here, we report that deletion of the previously uncharacterized QP509L and QP383R viral genes completely attenuates virulence in the ASF virus (ASFV) CN/GS/2018 isolate. However, ASFV-ΔQP509L/QP383R-infected animals were not protected from developing an ASF infection after challenge with the virulent parental virus. ASFV-ΔQP509L/QP383R induced lower levels of innate immune-related genes and IFN-β than the parental virus. Our results increase our knowledge of developing an effective and live ASF attenuated vaccine.