Establishment and characterization of a chimeric infectious cDNA clone of classical swine fever virus

Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) causes a highly contagious disease among swine that has an important economic impact worldwide. There are two important CSFV strains in China, Shimen and hog cholera lapinized virus (HCLV). Shimen strain is highly virulent while HCLV, also referred to as C-strain, is a live attenuated vaccine strain considered to be one of the most effective and safest live vaccines. In this study, a chimeric infectious cDNA clone of CSFV named pT7SM-c was engineered by replacing the E(rns) genomic region of an infectious clone of CSFV Shimen strain, pT7SM, with the same region obtained from HCLV. RNA transcripts of pT7SM-c containing an engineered EcoRI site that served as a genetic marker were directly infectious in PK15 cells. The rescued virus vT7SM-c showed similar growth kinetics and cytopathic effect with the parental virus vT7SM in the cells. The chimeric infectious cDNA clone can be used as a practical tool for further studying of the virulence, protein function and pathogenesis of CSFV through genetic manipulation.