Arterivirus molecular biology and pathogenesis

Abstract

Arteriviruses are positive-stranded RNA viruses that infect mammals. They can cause persistent or asymptomatic infections, but also acute disease associated with a respiratory syndrome, abortion or lethal haemorrhagic fever. During the past two decades, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and, to a lesser extent, equine arteritis virus (EAV) have attracted attention as veterinary pathogens with significant economic impact. Particularly noteworthy were the 'porcine high fever disease' outbreaks in South-East Asia and the emergence of new virulent PRRSV strains in the USA. Recently, the family was expanded with several previously unknown arteriviruses isolated from different African monkey species. At the molecular level, arteriviruses share an intriguing but distant evolutionary relationship with coronaviruses and other members of the order Nidovirales. Nevertheless, several of their characteristics are unique, including virion composition and structure, and the conservation of only a subset of the replicase domains encountered in nidoviruses with larger genomes. During the past 15 years, the advent of reverse genetics systems for EAV and PRRSV has changed and accelerated the structure-function analysis of arterivirus RNA and protein sequences. These systems now also facilitate studies into host immune responses and arterivirus immune evasion and pathogenesis. In this review, we have summarized recent advances in the areas of arterivirus genome expression, RNA and protein functions, virion architecture, virus-host interactions, immunity, and pathogenesis. We have also briefly reviewed the impact of these advances on disease management, the engineering of novel candidate live vaccines and the diagnosis of arterivirus infection.

Sequence analysis of minor protein genes of equine arteritis virus during persistent infection

“…In the current study, genetic changes of ORFs encoding minor structural proteins of EAV are analysed for the first time in Poland. Current knowledge on the functional importance of these proteins is limited; however the results of recent studies suggest that they may be crucial for the virus' attachment, fusion and entry to the host cells (19,20), as well as for the establishment of persistent infection (7).…”

The N-N non-covalent domain of the nucleocapsid protein of type 2 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus enhances induction of IL-10 expression

“…Among them, ORF7 encodes the nucleocapsid (N) protein (Firth et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2011;Snijder et al, 2013). PRRSV is divided into two genotypes: European (type 1 virus) and American (type 2 virus) (Meng et al, 1995).…”

Mutational analysis of the functional sites in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus non-structural protein 10

“…Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an enveloped, positive-sense ssRNA virus, which is classified in the family Arteriviridae, genus Arterivirus along with Equine arteritis virus (EAV), Lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV) and Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) (Snijder et al, 2013). PRRSV infection is often responsible for severe reproductive failure in sows and gilts, and respiratory problems in pigs of all ages (Music & Gagnon, 2010).…”