Chinese scientists to "see clearly" the "true face" of the African swine fever virus and boost the development of a new African swine fever vaccine!

In recent months, pork prices have been rising due to the decline in the supply of live pigs. Since last year, the outbreak of African swine fever in many parts of our country has been one of the "black hands" that has led to a decrease in supply. So, what exactly does the African swine fever virus look like?

Chinese scientists "see" African swine fever virus for the first time

1018, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences announced that Chinese scientists have analyzed for the first time the fine three-dimensional structure of African swine fever virus particles that are plaguing countries. This achievement will have an important impact on the prevention and control of African swine fever.

2013, the research team has analyzed the atomic resolution structure of more than 30 kinds of all viruses in 4 categories. From the structural comparison, it can be seen that the African swine fever virus is a very huge and complex pathogen.

China's first outbreak of African swine fever in August 2018. This is the first time the African swine fever virus has entered China since it was discovered in Kenya in 1921. The epidemic has had a serious impact on pig farming and pork prices, causing losses of more than 100 billion yuan.

after the outbreak of African swine fever in China, the team of Rao Zihe and Wang Xiangxi of the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Bu Zhigao team of the Harbin Institute of Veterinary Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences joined forces with Shanghai University of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Nankai University and other units. Since December 2018, it has carried out joint research on basic scientific research, clinical testing and high-efficiency vaccines on African swine fever virus particles and related antigen molecules.

African swine fever virus

, according to the research team, African swine fever is a world problem. The scientific community does not know what the life cycle of this virus is, nor does it know the immune mechanism of the body caused by it, nor does it know how many proteins it has, let alone how it invades and replicates. This time, they successfully isolated an epidemic strain of African swine fever virus that is breaking out in China. They found that the African swine fever virus is "huge in scale".

African swine fever virus is a very large and complex pathogen in the structure of atomic resolution of more than 30 kinds of viruses in 4 categories analyzed by the team since 2013. This poses a huge challenge for data collection. The research team conducted massive data collection for 4 consecutive months. In the end, they used a single-particle three-dimensional reconstruction method to analyze the three-dimensional structure of the entire African swine fever virus for the first time, and clarified the unique five-layer structural characteristics of the African swine fever virus. The virus particle contains more than 30,000 protein subunits. Assembled into spherical particles with a diameter of about 260 nanometers, it is currently the largest virus particle that resolves the near-atomic resolution structure.

1018, the joint research team's paper on "the structure and assembly mechanism of African swine fever virus" was published in the international academic journal Science. Feng Zhongwu, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that since the beginning of this year, pig production has declined sharply compared with last year. This research is "in response to the needs of the country and the urgent needs of the country".

African swine fever vaccine developed in China is being evaluated

the team of Rao Zihe and Wang Xiangxi from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the team of the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences jointly announced on the 18th that they have analyzed for the first time the fine three-dimensional structure of the African swine fever virus that is plaguing countries. At the results conference, he said that the structure of the African swine fever virus was analyzed for the first time, which provided a good clue for the creation of the vaccine.

, he introduced to reporters that vaccine research and development is divided into three stages, the first is the laboratory research stage, the second is the pilot test stage, and the third is the clinical trial stage. After the three stages are completed, it can be promoted to application. At present, the laboratory research stage and pilot stage of China's African swine fever vaccine have been basically completed. Researchers have tried more than a dozen technical routes, and finally selected several basically safe and effective vaccine candidates. Before entering the final clinical trial stage, the relevant application materials will be evaluated by peer experts in terms of safety and effectiveness. Currently, peer experts are conducting evaluation.

On August 3, 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs notified China's first African swine fever epidemic. At present, there is an urgent need to develop effective vaccines and epidemic prevention methods. Bu Zhigao said that for more than a year, the joint research team has been stepping up its work for this. There is still a lot to be improved in the vaccine creation work. Judging from the existing results, "we are very confident".

African swine fever is an acute, febrile and highly contact animal infectious disease caused by African swine fever virus. Pigs of all breeds and ages can be infected, with morbidity and mortality up to 100%. The World Organization for Animal Health has listed it as a legally reported animal disease, and China has also listed it as a category of animal disease. China is currently the world's largest producer and consumer of pork. More than a year after the outbreak, the pig farming industry has been hit hard.

Source of this article: Xinhuanet, China Youth Network, China Daily, etc.