Robert Koch Institute, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Ecological Dynamics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany.
Virol J. 2019 Feb 22;16(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s12985-019-1133-9.
Porcine circovirus 3 is a newly described circovirus circulating worldwide. PCV3 may play an etiologic role in different pig diseases. Two different genotypes of PCV3 were described, PCV3a and PCV3b. In order to analyse whether PCV3 is also present in wild boars, animals living in and near Berlin were studied. The animals had been analysed previously and were found to form two genetically distinct and geographically coherent clusters.
To detect PCV3 in wild boars, a PCR was performed, to analyse the virus in detail, parts of the sequence of the capsid protein were sequenced. In addition, a screening for PCV1 and PCV2 was performed using PCR.
For the first time, PCV3 was detected in German wild boars, with 50% of the animals infected in one genetic cluster, and 23% in the second cluster. In both populations which were divided in the years of division of Berlin, PCV3b was detected, in one case also PCV3a was detected. In some animals, co-infections with PCV1 and PCV2 or triple infections were detected.
The data show a high prevalence of PCV3 and co-infections with PCV1 and PCV2 in German wild boars. The finding of PCV3 in both clusters suggests that the virus was introduced into the animal populations before Berlin was divided. Furthermore, the methods used will be indispensable for screening for circoviruses in pigs genetically modified for xenotransplantation.
猪圆环病毒 3 是一种新描述的在全球流行的圆环病毒。PCV3 可能在不同的猪病中起病因作用。已描述了两种不同的 PCV3 基因型，即 PCV3a 和 PCV3b。为了分析 PCV3 是否也存在于野猪中，对生活在柏林及周边地区的动物进行了研究。这些动物之前已经进行了分析，结果发现它们形成了两个具有遗传差异且在地理上一致的群体。
为了检测野猪中的 PCV3，进行了 PCR 检测，为了详细分析病毒，对衣壳蛋白的部分序列进行了测序。此外，还使用 PCR 对 PCV1 和 PCV2 进行了筛查。
首次在德国野猪中检测到 PCV3，其中一个遗传群的 50%动物受到感染，第二个群的 23%动物受到感染。在柏林分裂的年份划分的两个群体中，均检测到了 PCV3b，在一个病例中还检测到了 PCV3a。在一些动物中，检测到了 PCV1 和 PCV2 的混合感染或三重感染。
这些数据表明，德国野猪中 PCV3 及其与 PCV1 和 PCV2 的混合感染率很高。在两个群体中都发现了 PCV3，这表明该病毒在柏林分裂之前就已经被引入了动物群体。此外，所使用的方法对于筛选用于异种移植的基因改造猪中的圆环病毒将是不可或缺的。
