College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China; State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150000, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control for Severe Clinical Animal Diseases, Guangzhou, 510642, China; Guangdong Technological Engineering Research Center for Pet, Guangzhou, 510642, China.
College of Life Science and Technology, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Virol Sin. 2022 Apr;37(2):223-228. doi: 10.1016/j.virs.2022.02.003. Epub 2022 Feb 12.
Bovine hepacivirus (BovHepV) is a novel virus that was recently discovered in Ghana and Germany in 2015. Until now, this virus has been identified in cattle population worldwide and is classified into subtypes A-G. To fully understand the epidemic situation and genetic characteristic of BovHepV in China, a total of 612 cattle serum samples were collected from 20 farms in seven provinces and municipality in China between 2018 and 2020 and were tested for the presence of BovHepV RNA via semi-nested PCR. The results demonstrated that 49 (8.0%) samples were BovHepV RNA-positive. It is noted that BovHepV infection in yak was confirmed for the first time. BovHepV was detected in all the seven provinces, with the positive rate ranging from 3.1% to 13.3%, which indicates a wide geographical distribution pattern of BovHepV in China. Sequencing results revealed that 5' UTR of the 49 field BovHepV strains have a nucleotide similarity of 96.3%-100% between each other and 93.9%-100% with previously reported BovHepV strains. In addition, genetic analysis identified five critical nucleotide sites in 5' UTR to distinguish different subtypes, which was further verified by genomic sequencing and nucleotide similarity analysis. All the 49 Chinese field BovHepV strains were classified into subtype G and this subtype is only determined in cattle in China currently. This study will provide insights for us to better understand the epidemiology and genetic diversity of BovHepV.
牛嗜肝病毒（BovHepV）是一种新发现的病毒，于 2015 年在加纳和德国首次被发现。截至目前，该病毒已在全球牛群中被鉴定出来，并被分为 A-G 亚型。为了全面了解中国牛嗜肝病毒的流行情况和遗传特征，本研究于 2018 年至 2020 年期间，从中国七个省和直辖市的 20 个农场采集了 612 份牛血清样本，通过半巢式 PCR 检测 BovHepV RNA 的存在。结果显示，有 49（8.0%）份样本为 BovHepV RNA 阳性。值得注意的是，首次在牦牛中确认了牛嗜肝病毒感染。在中国的七个省份均检测到了牛嗜肝病毒，阳性率为 3.1%至 13.3%，这表明牛嗜肝病毒在中国具有广泛的地理分布模式。测序结果表明，49 株田间 BovHepV 株的 5'UTR 之间的核苷酸相似性为 96.3%-100%，与先前报道的 BovHepV 株之间的核苷酸相似性为 93.9%-100%。此外，遗传分析鉴定出 5'UTR 中的 5 个关键核苷酸位点，可用于区分不同的亚型，这通过基因组测序和核苷酸相似性分析进一步得到验证。所有 49 株中国田间 BovHepV 株均被归类为 G 亚型，该亚型目前仅在中国的牛中被确定。本研究将为我们更好地了解牛嗜肝病毒的流行病学和遗传多样性提供参考。
