Characterization of an Enterovirus species E isolated from naturally infected bovine in China

Bovine enteroviruses, which belong to the Picornaviridae family, can cause clinical symptoms in cattle and are excreted in feces. In this study, a cytolytic virus was isolated from Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells from fecal samples of bovine with severe diarrhea and hemorrhagic intestinal mucosa that had been originally diagnosed with bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) by a bovine viral diarrhea virus Ag point-of-care test (IDEXX, American). Random priming PCR was used to amplify underlying viral sequences and identify the isolated virus. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the isolated virus closely matches the EV-E2 species, which is different from other Chinese strains previously isolated. The newly identified virus was named HLJ-3531/2013. We infected the sulking mice with the isolated virus. Reverse-transcription PCR, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, serum neutralization (SN) test, and virus isolation from various tissues revealed that HLJ-3531/2013 can infect the intestine, liver, and lung of suckling mice. The present work is the first to report the reproduction of clinical symptoms by an isolated virus in an experimental infection model of animals and lays a solid foundation for the development of the pathogenesis of bovine enteroviruses.