Characterization of one sheep border disease virus in China

Border disease virus (BDV) causes border disease (BD) affecting mainly sheep and goats worldwide. BDV in goat herds suffering diarrhea was recently reported in China, however, infection in sheep was undetermined. Here, BDV infections of sheep herds in Jiangsu, China were screened; a BDV strain was isolated and identified from the sheep flocks in China. The genomic characteristics and pathogenesis of this new isolate were studied.

In 2012, samples from 160 animals in 5 regions of Jiangsu province of China were screened for the presence of BDV genomic RNA and antibody by RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively. 44.4% of the sera were detected positively, and one slowly grown sheep was analyzed to be pestivirus RNA positive and antibody-negative. The sheep kept virus positive and antibody negative in the next 6 months of whole fattening period, and was defined as persistent infection (PI). The virus was isolated in MDBK cells without cytopathic effect (CPE) and named as JSLS12-01. Near-full-length genome sequenced was 12,227 nucleotides (nt). Phylogenetic analysis based on 5'-UTR and N(pro) fragments showed that the strain belonged to genotype 3, and shared varied homology with the other 3 BDV strains previously isolated from Chinese goats. The genome sequence of JSLS12-01 also had the highest homology with genotype BDV-3 (the strain Gifhorn). Experimental infections of sheep had mild clinical signs as depression and short-period mild fever (5 days). Viremia was detected in 1-7 days post-infection (dpi), and seroconversion began after 14 dpi.

This study reported the genomic and pathogenesis characterizations of one sheep BDV strain, which confirmed the occurrence of BDV infection in Chinese sheep. This sheep derived BDV strain was classified as BDV-3, together with the goat derived strains in China. These results might be helpful for further understanding of BDV infection in China and useful for prevention and control of BDV infections in the future.