Laboratory methods to study African swine fever virus

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Animal Health
• Vaccine Development

Background:

• African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) poses a significant threat to swine populations globally.
• Effective cultivation and characterization methods are crucial for ASFV research and control.
• Developing attenuated strains is a key strategy for ASFV vaccine approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize comparative studies on ASFV infection in various cell cultures.
• To present methods for assessing ASFV infectivity and purifying infectious virus particles.
• To outline a strategy for constructing ASFV deletion mutants for vaccine development.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of ASFV components and infectious virus particle production in susceptible cell cultures.
• Description of assays to evaluate ASFV sample infectivity.
• Purification techniques for infectious ASFV particles.
• General strategy for constructing ASFV deletion mutants.

Main Results:

• Identification of optimal cell culture conditions for growing ASFV strains.
• Validation of methods for ASFV infectivity assessment and particle purification.
• Demonstration of a feasible strategy for engineering attenuated ASFV strains.

Conclusions:

• Cell cultures offer alternative means for growing ASFV field and laboratory strains.
• Established methods facilitate ASFV infectivity assays and purification.
• Virus deletion mutant construction provides a pathway for developing ASFV vaccines.