Genetic and antigenic diversity of African swine fever virus

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the only known DNA arbovirus, and the ability to replicate efficiently in both insect and mammalian cells is encoded in its viral genome. Despite having a relatively low overall genomic mutation rate, ASFV demonstrates genetic diversity in certain genes and complexity in gene content in other genomic regions, indicating that ASFV may exploit multiple mechanisms for diversification and acquire new phenotype characteristics. ASFV antigenic diversity is reflected in the ability to type cross-protective viruses together into serogroups, largely based on antibody-mediated inhibition of hemadsorption. Here we review ASFV genetic signatures of ASFV type specificity, genome variability, and the hemadsorption as a means of defining virus antigenic type, and how these may be used toward defining antigenic and phenotypic diversity that is problematic for development of vaccine solutions to ASF.