Identification and Isolation of Two Different Subpopulations Within African Swine Fever Virus Arm/07 Stock

No efficient vaccines exist against African swine fever virus (ASFV), which causes a serious disease in wild boars and domestic pigs that produces great industrial and ecological concerns worldwide. An extensive genetic characterization of the original ASFV stocks used to produce live attenuated vaccine (LAV) prototypes is needed for vaccine biosecurity and control. Here, we sequenced for the first time the Arm/07 stock which was obtained from an infected pig during the Armenia outbreak in 2007, using an improved viral dsDNA purification method together with high coverage analysis. There was unexpected viral heterogeneity within the stock, with two genetically distinct ASFV subpopulations. The first, represented by the Arm/07/CBM/c2 clone, displayed high sequence identity to the updated genotype II Georgia 2007/1, whereas the second (exemplified by clone Arm/07/CBM/c4) displayed a hemadsorbing phenotype and grouped within genotype I based on a central region conserved among all members of this group. Intriguingly, Arm/07/CBM/c4 contained a unique EP402R sequence, produced by a single mutation in the N-terminal region. Importantly, Arm/07/CBM/c4 showed in vitro features of attenuated strains regarding innate immune response pathway. Both Arm/07/CBM/c2 and c4 represent well-characterized viral clones, useful for different molecular and virus-host interaction studies, including virulence studies and vaccine development.