Isolation and identification of a novel porcine-related recombinant mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain from cattle in Guangxi Province, China

Yuhang Luo; Yanglin Wang; Wenfei Tang; Cui Wang; Huanghao Liu; Xiaoling Wang; Jiang Xie; Jie Wang; Kang Ouyang; Ying Chen; Zuzhang Wei; Yifeng Qin; Yan Pan; Weijian Huang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1419691

Isolation and identification of a novel porcine-related recombinant mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain from cattle in Guangxi Province, China

Front Microbiol. 2024 Jul 22:15:1419691. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1419691. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yuhang Luo^{1

2

3

4}, Yanglin Wang^{1

3

4}, Wenfei Tang^{1

3

4}, Cui Wang^{1

3

4

5}, Huanghao Liu^{1

3

4}, Xiaoling Wang², Jiang Xie², Jie Wang^{1

3

4}, Kang Ouyang^{1

3

4}, Ying Chen^{1

3

4}, Zuzhang Wei^{1

3

4}, Yifeng Qin^{1

3

4}, Yan Pan², Weijian Huang^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Animal Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.
² Guangxi Vocational University of Agriculture, Nanning, China.
³ Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Engineering Research Center of Veterinary Biologics, Nanning, China.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding, Disease Control and Prevention, Nanning, China.
⁵ Liuzhou Center for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Liuzhou, China.

Abstract

The Mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV) infects various mammals, including humans, and is linked to gastrointestinal, respiratory, and neurological diseases. A recent outbreak in Liuzhou, Guangxi, China, led to the isolation of a new MRV strain, GXLZ2301, from fecal samples. This strain replicates in multiple cell lines and forms lattice-like structures. Infected cells exhibit single-cell death and syncytia formation. The virus's titers peaked at 10^7.2 TCID₅₀/0.1 mL in PK-15 and BHK cells, with the lowest at 10^3.88 TCID50/0.1 mL in A549 cells. Electron microscopy showed no envelope with a diameter of about 70 nm. Genetic analysis revealed GXLZ2301 as a recombinant strain with gene segments from humans, cows, and pigs, similar to type 3 MRV strains from Italy (2015-2016). Pathogenicity tests indicated that while the bovine MRV strain did not cause clinical symptoms in mice, it caused significant damage to the gut, lungs, liver, kidneys, and brain. The emergence of this MRV strain may pose a threat to the health of animals and humans, and it is recommended that its epidemiology and recombination be closely monitored.

Keywords: bovine; diarrhea; isolation; mammalian orthoreoviruses; pathogenesis and transmissibility; reassortment.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Guangxi Key R&D Program “Research and Demonstration Application of Key Technologies for the Prevention and Control of Major and Emerging Epidemic Diseases in Cattle and Sheep in Guangxi” (Project Number: 2023AB19020), the National Modern Agricultural Industry System Guangxi Cattle and Sheep Industry Innovation Team Construction of China (Project Number: nycytxgxcxtd-2021-09), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 32260875), and the Guangxi Agricultural Science and Technology Self-financing Project in 2022 for the R&D and Application Demonstration of Key Technologies for the Prevention and Control of Bovine and Sheep Diseases (Project Number: Z202228).