A Novel Isolate with Deletion in GP3 Gene of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus from Mid-Eastern China

Abstract EN

PRRSV strain SH1211 was isolated from the lung tissue of a piglet on a large-scale pig farm with approximately 30% morbidity and 50% mortality in mid-eastern China in 2012.

The full-length genome of SH1211 was 15 313 nt in size, excluding the polyadenylated sequences, and shared 94.9% nucleotide sequence identity with the HP-PRRSV strain, JXA1.

The GP2 and GP5 proteins of SH1211 shared only 91.5% and 85.1% amino acid sequence identities with those of the JXA1, respectively.

A deletion at amino acid positions 68 and 69 was identified in the GP3 protein of SH1211, compared with the GP3 of Type-2 PRRSV isolates.

A phylogenetic tree based on the nucleotide sequence of the complete genome showed that SH1211 is the most closely related to other HP-PRRSV strains isolated in China.

However, phylogenetic analysis based on the GP2 and GP5 proteins showed that SH1211 is the most closely related to the QYYZ strain.

A recombination analysis indicated that SH1211 might have been generated through recombination events between the JXA1 and QYYZ in which the GP2 and GP5 coding sequences were exchanged.

Thus, SH1211 is a novel PRRSV strain with significant variation.

Our analysis of SH1211 provides insight into the role of genetic variation in the antigenicity of PRRSVs in China.