A rescued virus from the infectious clone of a PRRSV NADC34-like strain exhibits high pathogenicity for nursery pigs

doi:10.1016/j.jia.2024.08.015

Journal of Integrative Agriculture

2026, Vol. 25

Issue (5): 2041-2050 DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2024.08.015

Animal Science · Veterinary Medicine

Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search

A rescued virus from the infectious clone of a PRRSV NADC34-like strain exhibits high pathogenicity for nursery pigs

Zhenbang Zhu^1*, Zhengqin Ye^1*, Wenqiang Wang¹, Yanhua Li¹, Zhe Sun², Xiuling Yu², Kegong Tian^{2, 3#}, Xiangdong Li^{1, 4#}

¹Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

²National Research Center for Veterinary Medicine, Luoyang 471003, China

³College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China

⁴Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, Ministry of Education/Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

Highlights
● A NADC34-like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) was successionally rescued by reverse genetics technique.
● The rescued virus proliferated well in porcine alveolar macrophages.
● The rescued virus showed high pathogenicity on pigs.

Abstract
References

Download: PDF in ScienceDirect
Export: BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)

摘要

猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒类NADC34毒株在我国的流行传播范围不断扩大，并在局部地区成为优势毒株。目前商品化疫苗不能对类NADC34毒株提供完全交叉保护，这给养猪业造成巨大的经济损失。临床病例中常见类NADC34 PRRSV毒株与其他PRRSV毒株的混合感染，这也给从临床样本中分离类NADC34 PRRSV毒株并鉴定其生物学特性和致病力带来了干扰与挑战。本研究基于前期分离到的未发生重组的类NADC34 PRRSV毒株JS2021NADC34，利用反向遗传技术拯救出病毒，并研究其在猪肺泡巨噬细胞（PAMs）上的复制能力及对仔猪的致病力。首先，根据JS2021NADC34 PRRSV毒株基因组序列设计特异性引物，将全长cDNA分成四段进行PCR扩增，通过同源重组的方法构建JS2021NADC34感染性克隆并拯救出病毒rNADC34。获得的拯救病毒在PAMs增殖良好，能够产生明显CPE效应，免疫荧光和免疫印迹试验都在PAMs上检测到了病毒的复制，其病毒拷贝数和病毒滴度与母本毒株相当。在致病性方面，本研究将15只仔猪分成三组，分别是空白组、NADC34攻毒组和rNADC34攻毒组。PRRSV rNADC34毒株感染仔猪后，仔猪表现出体温升高和体重下降，该指标与母本病毒攻毒组一致。而rNADC34攻毒后仔猪的存活率比母本病毒感染仔猪的存活率低。组织病理学结果显示，rNADC34毒株感染引起弥漫性间质性肺炎，肺脏、淋巴结、扁桃体中有出血以及大量中性粒细胞和淋巴细胞的浸润。免疫组化结果显示在rNADC34毒株感染组的肺脏、淋巴结和扁桃体中均检测到PRRSV病毒蛋白。此外，rNADC34感染仔猪产生PRRSV特异性抗体和病毒血症趋势与母本毒株的感染相似。这些数据表明，拯救出的rNADC34毒株具有较强的毒力，并对仔猪具有高致病性。本研究为PRRSV类NADC34毒株的生物学特性、分子致病机制、毒力基因等研究提供基础平台，也并为疫苗的研发和PRRSV防控提供理论依据。

Abstract NADC34-like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) has been circulating in China for several years and became the dominant field strain in some provinces. Current commercial vaccines could not provide complete cross-protection to NADC34-like PRRSV infection, which led to huge economic losses on pig farms. Co-infections of NADC34-like PRRSV with some other PRRSV strains are commonly found in many clinical cases, and successful isolation of NADC34-like PRRSV strain from the clinical samples has been a challenge to study its biological characters and perform animal experiments to evaluate its pathogenicity. In this study, we constructed a NADC34-like PRRSV infectious clone derived from the isolated JS2021NADC34 PRRSV strain using the reverse genetics technique and investigated its virulence and pathogenicity for nursery pigs. The rescued (rNADC34) strain could proliferate well in porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs), and the viral copy number and titers were comparable to parental strain. For pathogenicity, the rNADC34 strain-infected pigs showed high body temperature and body weight loss. The histopathological results presented interstitial pneumonia and severe hemorrhage, infiltration of neutrophils and lymphocyte in lungs, lymph nodes, and tonsils. The viral proteins were also detectable in rNADC34 strain-infected pigs using immunohistochemistry staining. Moreover, the trends of PRRSV-specific antibody and viremia in PRRSV rNADC34-infected pigs were similar with the parental strain-infected pigs. These data indicated that rNADC34 strain manifested strong virulence and high pathogenicity for nursery pigs.

Keywords: PRRSV NADC34-like strain infectious clone pathogenicity

Received: 02 March 2024 Accepted: 21 July 2024 Online: 22 August 2024

Fund:

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China-CGIAR (32361143511), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD1800301), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20210804), the Jiangsu Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talent Team Project, China (JSSCTD202224), the 111 Project D18007, and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD). Zhenbang Zhu is supported by the "LvYangJinfeng Program" of Yangzhou City, China.

About author: Zhenbang Zhu, E-mail: 007583@yzu.edu.cn; Zhengqin Ye, E-mail: yezhengqin@126.com; #Correspondence Xiangdong Li, E-mail: 007352@yzu.edu.cn; Kegong Tian, E-mail: tiankg@263.net * These authors contributed equally to this study.

	Service
	E-mail this article
	Add to citation manager
	E-mail Alert
	RSS
	Articles by authors

Cite this article:

Zhenbang Zhu, Zhengqin Ye, Wenqiang Wang, Yanhua Li, Zhe Sun, Xiuling Yu, Kegong Tian, Xiangdong Li. 2026. A rescued virus from the infectious clone of a PRRSV NADC34-like strain exhibits high pathogenicity for nursery pigs. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 25(5): 2041-2050.

Chen N H, Ye M X, Xiao Y Z, Li S, Huang Y C, Li X D, Tian K G, Zhu J Z. 2019. Development of universal and quadruplex real-time RT-PCR assays for simultaneous detection and differentiation of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 66, 2271–2278.

Cho J G, Dee S A. 2006. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Theriogenology, 66, 655–662.

Dokland T. 2010. The structural biology of PRRSV. Virus Research, 154, 86–97.

Fang Y, Snijder E J. 2010. The PRRSV replicase: Exploring the multifunctionality of an intriguing set of nonstructural proteins. Virus Research, 154, 61–76.

Gao Z Q, Guo X, Yang H C. 2004. Genomic characterization of two Chinese isolates of Porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus. Archives of Virology, 149, 1341–1351.

Van Geelen Albertg M, Anderson T K, Lager K M, Das P B, Otis N J, Montiel N A, Miller L C, Kulshreshtha V, Buckley A C, Brockmeier S L, Zhang J, Gauger P C, Harmon K M, Faaberg K S. 2018. Porcine reproductive and respiratory disease virus: Evolution and recombination yields distinct ORF5 RFLP 1-7-4 viruses with individual pathogenicity. Virology, 513, 168–179.

Guo Z, Chen X X, Li R, Qiao S, Zhang G. 2018. The prevalent status and genetic diversity of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in China: A molecular epidemiological perspective. Virology Journal, 15, 2.

Han J, Zhou L, Ge X, Guo X, Yang H. 2017. Pathogenesis and control of the Chinese highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Veterinary Microbiology, 209, 30–47.

Han M, Yoo D. 2014. Engineering the PRRS virus genome: Updates and perspectives. Veterinary Microbiology, 174, 279–295.

King A M Q, Lefkowitz E J, Mushegian A R, Adams M J, Dutilh B E, Gorbalenya A E, Harrach B, Harrison R L, Junglen S, Knowles N J, Kropinski A M, Krupovic M, Kuhn J H, Nibert M L, Rubino L, Sabanadzovic S, Sanfacon H, Siddell S G, Simmonds P, Varsani A, et al. 2018. Changes to taxonomy and the international code of virus classification and nomenclature ratified by the international committee on taxonomy of viruses. Archives of Virology, 163, 2601–2631.

Liu J, Liu C, Xu Y, Yang Y, Li J, Dai A, Huang C, Luo M, Wei C. 2022. Molecular characteristics and pathogenicity of a novel recombinant porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus strain from NADC30-, NADC34-, and JXA1-Like strains that emerged in China. Microbiology Spectrum, 10, e0266722.

Liu J, Wei C, Lin Z, Xia W, Ma Y, Dai A, Yang X. 2019. Full genome sequence analysis of a 1-7-4-like PRRSV strain in Fujian Province, China. PeerJ, 7, e7859.

Meulenberg J J, Bos-De Ruijter J N, Van De Graaf R, Wensvoort G, Moormann R J. 1998. Infectious transcripts from cloned genome-length cDNA of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Journal of Virology, 72, 380–387.

Montaner-Tarbes S, Del Portillo H A, Montoya M, Fraile L. 2019. Key gaps in the knowledge of the porcine respiratory reproductive syndrome virus (PRRSV). Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 6, 38.

Shi M, Lam T T, Hon C C, Murtaugh M P, Davies P R, Hui R K, Li J, Wong L T, Yip C W, Jiang J W, Leung F C. 2010. Phylogeny-based evolutionary, demographical, and geographical dissection of North American type 2 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses. Journal of Virology, 84, 8700–8711.

Song S, Xu H, Zhao J, Leng C, Xiang L, Li C, Fu J, Tang Y D, Peng J, Wang Q, Zhao H, An T, Cai X, Zhang H, Tian Z J. 2020. Pathogenicity of NADC34-like PRRSV HLJDZD32-1901 isolated in China. Veterinary Microbiology, 246, 108727.

Tian K G, Yu X L, Zhao T Z, Feng Y J, Cao Z, Wang C B, Hu Y, Chen X Z, Hu D M, Tian X S, Liu D, Zhang S O, Deng X Y, Ding Y Q, Yang L, Zhang Y X, Xiao H X, Qiao M M, Wang B, Hou L L, et al. 2007. Emergence of fatal PRRSV variants: Unparalleled outbreaks of a typical PRRS in China and molecular dissection of the unique hallmark. PLoS ONE, 2, e526.

Xu H, Li C, Li W, Zhao J, Gong B, Sun Q, Tang Y D, Xiang L, Leng C, Peng J, Wang Q, Meng F, Yu Y, An T, Cai X, Tian Z J, Zhang H. 2022. Novel characteristics of Chinese NADC34-like PRRSV during 2020–2021. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 69, e3215–e3224.

Xu H, Song S, Zhao J, Leng C, Fu J, Li C, Tang Y D, Xiang L, Peng J, Wang Q, Zhao H, An T, Cai X, Zhang H, Tian Z J. 2020. A potential endemic strain in China: NADC34-like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 67, 1730–1738.

Yu Y, Zhang Q, Cao Z, Tang Y D, Xia D, Wang G, Shan H. 2021. Recent advances in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus NADC30-Like research in China: Molecular characterization, pathogenicity, and control. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12, 791313.

Yuan L, Zhu Z, Fan J, Liu P, Li Y, Li Q, Sun Z, Yu X, Lee H S, Tian K, Li X. 2022. High pathogenicity of a Chinese NADC34-like PRRSV on pigs. Microbiology Spectrum, 10, e0154122.

Yuan L L, Zhu Z B, Fan J, Li Q, Liu P R, Li X D. 2023. Efficacy of a comme rcial PRRSV vaccine on NADC34-like PRRSV challenge. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 2023, 4509261.

Zhang H L, Zhang W L, Xiang L R, Leng C L, Tian Z J, Tang Y D, Cai X H. 2018. Emergence of novel porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses (ORF5 RFLP 1-7-4 viruses) in China. Veterinary Microbiology, 222, 105–108.

Zhao H Z, Wang F X, Han X Y, Guo H, Liu C Y, Hou L N, Wang Y X, Zheng H, Wang L, Wen Y J. 2022. Recent advances in the study of NADC34-like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in China. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, 950402.

Zhou L, Wang Z, Ding Y, Ge X, Guo X, Yang H. 2015. NADC30-like strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, China. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 21, 2256–2257.

Zhou L, Yang H. 2010. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in China. Virus Research, 154, 31–37.

Zhou Z, Ni J, Cao Z, Han X, Xia Y, Zi Z, Ning K, Liu Q, Cai L, Qiu P, Deng X, Hu D, Zhang Q, Fan Y, Wu J, Wang L, Zhang M, Yu X, Zhai X, Tian K. 2011. The epidemic status and genetic diversity of 14 highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (HP-PRRSV) isolates from China in 2009. Veterinary Microbiology, 150, 257–269.

Zhu Z, Yuan L, Hu D, Lian Z, Yao X, Liu P, Li X. 2022. Isolation and genomic characterization of a Chinese NADC34-like PRRSV isolated from Jiangsu Province. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 69, e1015–e1027.

[1]	Hu Xu, Siyu Zhang, Zhenyang Guo, Chao Li, Bangjun Gong, Jinhao Li, Qi Sun, Jing Zhao, Menglin Zhang, Lirun Xiang, Yandong Tang, Chaoliang Leng, Jianan Wu, Qian Wang, Jinmei Peng, Guohui Zhou, Huairan Liu, Tongqing An, Xuehui Cai, Zhijun Tian, Hongliang Zhang. Novel characterization of NADC30-like and NADC34-like PRRSV strains in China: epidemiological status and pathogenicity analysis of L1A variants[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(1): 235-246.
[2]	Wenrui Fan, Yuntong Chen, Mengmeng Yu, Yongzhen Liu, Yulong Gao. Advances on ALV-J in China over the past two decades[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2025, 24(2): 429-440.
[3]	Libin Liang, Yaning Bai, Wenyan Huang, Pengfei Ren, Xing Li, Dou Wang, Yuhan Yang, Zhen Gao, Jiao Tang, Xingchen Wu, Shimin Gao, Yanna Guo, Mingming Hu, Zhiwei Wang, Zhongbing Wang, Haili Ma, Junping Li. Genetic and biological properties of H9N2 avian influenza viruses isolated in central China from 2020 to 2022[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(8): 2778-2791.
[4]	Yue Jiang, Rong Wang, Lili Du, Xueyu Wang, Xi Zhang, Pengfei Qi, Qianfei Wu, Baoyi Peng, Zonghua Wang, Mo Wang, Ya Li. The DNA damage repair complex MoMMS21–MoSMC5 is required for infection-related development and pathogenicity of Magnaporthe oryzae [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(6): 1956-1966.
[5]	Yina Xu, Hailing Li, Haoyu Leng, Chaofan Su, Siqi Tang, Yongtao Wang, Shiwei Zhang, Yali Feng, Yanan Wu, Daxin Wang, Ying Zhang. Genetic and biological properties of H10Nx influenza viruses in China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(11): 3860-3869.
[6]	Dong Deng, Wenqi Wu, Canxing Duan, Suli Sun, Zhendong Zhu. *A novel pathogen Fusarium* cuneirostrum causing common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) root rot in China** [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(1): 166-176.
[7]	ZHANG Hao-yang, YANG Yan-fang, GUO Feng, SHEN Xiao-rui, LU Shan, CHEN Bao-sha. SsRSS1 mediates salicylic acid tolerance and contributes to virulence in sugarcane smut fungus[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 2126-2137.
[8]	XU Kui, ZHOU Yan-rong, SHANG Hai-tao, XU Chang-jiang, TAO Ran, HAO Wan-jun, LIU Sha-sha, MU Yu-lian, XIAO Shao-bo, LI Kui. Pig macrophages with site-specific edited CD163 decrease the susceptibility to infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 2188-2199.
[9]	ZHOU Jing-jing, ZHANG Xiao-ping, LIU Rui, LING Jian, LI Yan, YANG Yu-hong, XIE Bing-yan, ZHAO Jian-long, MAO Zhen-chuan. *A Meloidogyne incognita* effector Minc03329 suppresses plant immunity and promotes parasitism**[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(3): 799-811.
[10]	ZHAO Yi-ran, ZHAO Yu-zhong, LIU Si-dang, XIAO Yi-hong, LI Ning, LIU Kui-hao, MENG Fan-liang, ZHAO Jun, LIU Meng-da, LI Bao-quan. Phylogenetic and epidemiological characteristics of H9N2 avian influenza viruses in Shandong Province, China from 2019 to 2021 [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(3): 881-896.
[11]	HUANG Xin, CHI Yuan-kai, Addisie Abate BIRHAN, ZHAO Wei, QI Ren-de, PENG De-liang. *The new effector AbSCP1* of foliar nematode (Aphelenchoides besseyi) is required for parasitism rice**[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2022, 21(4): 1084-1093.
[12]	ZHANG Zhi-bang, XU Lei, WEN Xue-xia, DONG Jian-guo, ZHOU Lei, GE Xin-na, YANG Han-chun, GUO Xin. Identification of the strain-specifically truncated nonstructural protein 10 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in infected cells[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2018, 17(05): 1171-1180.
[13]	ZHANG Feng, GAO Peng, GE Xin-na, ZHOU Lei, GUO Xin, YANG Han-chun. Critical role of cytochrome c1 and its cleavage in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus nonstructural protein 4-induced cell apoptosis via interaction with nsp4[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2017, 16(11): 2573-2585.
[14]	DU Ji-ge, GE Xin-na, DONG Hong, ZHANG Ning, ZHOU Lei, GUO Xin, YANG Han-chun. The cellular interactome for glycoprotein 5 of the Chinese highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2016, 15(8): 1833-1845.
[15]	Wang Shuai, ZHang Meng, LIU Xin-chao, LIn Tao, Yang Han-chun, YUan Shi-shan, ZHao guang-wei, Ia Hassan, Yan Ruo-feng, Song Xiao-kai, XU Li-xin, LI Xiang-rui. Investigation on the co-infections of Toxoplasma gondii with PRRSV, CSFV or PCV-2 in swine in part of China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2015, 14(9): 1838-1844.

No Suggested Reading articles found!

Viewed

Full text

Abstract

Cited

Shared

Discussed

Cite this article:

About JIA

Editorial board

For authors