Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date (Issue Year)

2023

Journal Name

Scientific Reports

Abstract

African swine fever (ASF) caused by ASF virus (ASFV) is an infectious transboundary animal disease notifiable to the World Organization for Animal Health causing high mortality in domestic pigs and wild boars threatening the global domestic pig industry. To date, twenty-four ASFV genotypes have been described and currently genotypes II, IX, X, XV and XVI are known to be circulating in Tanzania. Despite the endemic status of ASF in Tanzania, only one complete genome of ASFV from the country has been described. This study describes the first complete genome sequence of ASFV genotype XV. In addition, the first Tanzanian complete genome of ASFV genotype IX and three ASFV strains belonging to genotype II collected during ASF outbreaks in domestic pigs in Tanzania were determined in this study using Illumina sequencing and comparative genomics analysis. The generated ASFV complete genome sequences ranged from 171,004 to 184,521 base pairs in length with an average GC content of 38.53% and encoded 152 to 187 open reading frames. The results of this study provide insights into the genomic structure of ASFV and can be used to monitor changes within the ASFV genome and improve our understanding of ASF transmission dynamics.

Keywords

genome analysis, Afriswine, fever virus, genotypes, domestic pigs, Tanzania

Rsif Scholar Name

Jean Nepomuscene Hakizimana

Rsif Scholar Nationality

Rwanda

Cohort

Cohort 1

Thematic Area

Food security and Agribusiness

Africa Host University (AHU)

Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania

Funding Statement

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the O.R. Tambo Africa Research Chairs Initiative (ORTARChI) (DPRTC/R/126/SACIDS/1/2022) supported by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Tech-nology (COSTECH), the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF), the Department of Science and Innovation of South Africa (DSI), the International Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC) and the Oliver & Adelaide Tambo Foundation (OATF). JNH is an ORTARChI postdoctoral research fellow in viral genomics while GM is an ORTARChI research chairholder for viral epidemics. ASFV full genome sequencing at The Pirbright Institute has been supported by UKRI Grants BBS/E/I/00007031, BBS/E/I/00007037, BBS/E/I/00007039, BBS/OS/GC/200015 and BBS/OS/GC/200015A and DEFRA Grant SE1517.

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