[The population structure of the African swine fever virus based on the quantitative hemadsorption trait]

Subpopulation composition of 8 ASFV isolates and variants differing in virulence was evaluated comparatively by their haemadsorption capacity. The "quantitative haemadsorption marker" was shown to be useful for characterization of the strains, virus population phenotypic heterogeneity and structure. The marker expression was found to correlate with virulence: attenuated variants had low haemadsorption and more subpopulation components with that shift, and vice versa.