Establishment and Preliminary Application of One-step Reverse Transcriptase Droplet Digital PCR Assay for Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

[Objective]The paper was to establish a one-step reverse transcriptase droplet digital PCR(RT-ddPCR)assay for bovine viral diarrhea virus(BVDV).[Method]Based on one-step real-time quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR)assay,BVDV-specific primers and probes were designed in this study.The reverse transcriptase,annealing temperature,primer and probe concentrations and reaction conditions of RT-ddPCR assay were optimized.Meantime,the specificity,sensitivity and repeatability of RT-ddPCR assay were evaluated.[Result]The optimal reverse transcription system for the established RT-ddPCR assay was as follows:commercial one-step reverse transcriptase droplet digital PCR kit with matching reagents,a final primer concentration of 900 nmol/L,a final probe concentration of 250 nmol/L and an optimal annealing temperature of 57℃.The results were negative when the method was used to detect other common epidemic viruses;the minimum detection limit was 3.2 copies/μL with good repeatability,and the coefficient of variation was less than 5%.RT-ddPCR and RT-qPCR assays were used to test 24 bovine swab samples and the test results showed that the established RT-ddPCR assay was superior to RT-qPCR assay.[Conclusion]The RT-ddPCR assay established in this study has strong specificity,high sensitivity and good repeatability,and is suitable for nucleic acid detection of clinical samples.This study provided a technical support for early detection and quantitative diagnosis of BVDV infection.

Development of an One-step Reverse Transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Rapid Detection of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Objective] This study aimed to develop a reverse transcription loop-medi-ated isothermal amplification （RT-LAMP） method for detecting BVDV. [Method] Since gp48 gene of BVDV is among the most conserved regions, a set of four primers was designed to amplify six target sequences at the gp48 gene region for the RT-LAMP assay. The optimization of the RT-LAMP reaction was performed by evaluat-ing reaction temperature and reaction time. [Result] The RT-LAMP aasay was suc-cessful y conducted at 56 ℃ within 40 min under isothermal conditions, and the re-sults could be detected as ladder-like bands using agarose gel electrophoresis. The RT-LAMP assay is highly sensitive and able to detect 3.74 ×100 copies/μl of BVDV RNA, as no cross-reaction was observed with other viruses. [Conclusion] Overal , the newly established RT-LAMP assay indicates the potential application in both clinical diagnosis and field surveil ance of BVDV.

Cloning and sequence analysis of E2 gene of bovine viral diarrhea virus HB-DCZ strain in Hebei province of China

The objective of this paper was to analyze the E2 genetic characterization of HB-DCZ strain of Bovine viral diaxrhca Virus （BVDV） which wcrc amplified by RT-PCR and isolated from China. The product of PCK was cloned into pMD18-T vector, and then transfected Escherichia Coli JMI00. The recombinant plasmids were amplified by PCR and were sequenced. From the nucleotide sequence of the amplified products, phylogenetie analyses were performed and genotypes or subgenotypes were identified. The results indicated that the E2 gene fragment of HB-DCZ strain contained 1277bp nucleotides, and had 89.4%, 70.7%, 97.6%, 68.9%, 67.2% sequence similarity with Osloss, OregonC24V, Changchun184, ZM195, NADL, respectively. In conclusion, HB-DCZ strain is closely related to BVDV Osloss, Changchun184, and belongs to subgenotype lb.

Prevention and Control Measures of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus in Developed Country and Its Inspiration to China

Bovine viral diarrhea disease is an important disease in the world, which causes great economic loss and leads to serious clinical symptoms such as drop in milk and meat production, reproductive failure, growth retardation, and secondary infection increasing the mortality rate. The developed countries have made a series of measures in preventing the disease and made a great purpose. This paper summarizes those methods in order to make a reference for the control of the disease in China.

Importance of Viral Disease in Dairy Cow Fertility

Many viral diseases are endemic in cattle populations worldwide. The ability of many viruses to cross the placenta and cause abortions and fetal malformations is well understood. There is also significant evidence that viral infections have additional actions in dairy cows, which are reflected in reduced conception rates. These effects are, however, highly dependent on the time at which an individual animal first contracts the disease and are less easy to quantify. This paper reviews the evidence relating to five viruses that can affect fertility, together with their potential mechanisms of action. Acute infection with non-cytopathic bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in mid-gestation increases abortion rates or causes the birth of persistently infected calves. BVDV infections closer to the time of breeding can have direct effects on the ovaries and uterine endometrium, which cause estrous cycle irregularities and early embryo mortality. Fertility may also be reduced by BVDV-induced immunosuppression, which increases the susceptibility to bacterial infections. Bovine herpesvirus (BHV)-1 is most common in pre-pubertal heifers, and can slow their growth, delay breeding, and increase the age at first calving. Previously infected animals subsequently show reduced fertility. Although this may be associated with lung damage, ovarian lesions have also been reported. Both BHV-1 and BHV-4 remain latent in the host following initial infection and may be reactivated later by stress, for example associated with calving and early lactation. While BHV-4 infection alone may not reduce fertility, it appears to act as a co-factor with established bacterial pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Trueperella pyogenes to promote the development of endometritis and delay uterine repair mechanisms after calving. Both Schmallenberg virus (SBV) and bluetongue virus (BTV) are transmitted by insect vectors and lead to increased abortion rates and congenital malformations.BTV-8 also impairs the development of hatched blastocysts;furthermore, infection around the time of breeding with either virus appears to reduce conception rates. Although the reductions in conception rates are often difficult to quantify, they are nevertheless sufficient to cause economic losses, which help to justify the benefits of vaccination and eradication schemes.

A novel real-time RT-PCR with TaqM an-MGB probes and its application in detecting BVDV infections in dairy farms

A real-time RT-PCR assay using Taq Man-MGB probes was developed to detect and type the bovine viral diarrhea virus（BVDV） in cattle.Universal primers and Taq Man-MGB probes were designed from the 5′-untranslated region of known pestiviral sequences.Prior to optimizing the assay, c RNAs were transcribed in vitro from the BVDV 1 and BVDV 2 RTPCR products to make standard curves.The detection limit of the assay was 1.72×102 copies for BVDV 1 and 2.14×102copies for BVDV 2.The specificity of the assay evaluated on several BVDV strains including bovine herpesvirus 1（BHV 1）, foot and mouth disease virus（FMDV） and several classical swine fever virus（CSFV） strains showed specific detection of the positive virus over 40 cycles.The assay was highly reproducible with the coefficient of variance ranging from 1.04 to 1.33% for BVDV 1 and from 0.83 to 1.48% for BVDV 2, respectively.Using this method, we tested a total of 2 327 cattle from three dairy farms for the presence of BVDV persistently infected（PI） animals.In this assay, each RT-PCR template contained a mixture of ten samples from different animals.The occurrence rate of PI cattle in three farms ranging from 0.9 to 2.54% could represent partly the PI rates in cattle farm in China.In conclusion, using our real-time PCR assay, we could effectively detect and type BVDV and identify PI cattle in a rapid and cost-effective manner.

Prevalence of coronavirus from diarrheic calves in the Republic of Korea

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of bovine coronavirus(BCo V), bovine rotavirus, and bovine viral diarrhea virus in the feces of normal and diarrheic Korean native calves aged 1-81 days between April and October of 2016 in the Republic of Korea. Methods: Samples were obtained from 50 normal and 93 diarrheic(56 semi-formed, 28 loose, and 9 watery feces) calves in six different regions of northern and southern Korea. These fecal samples were tested for BCo V, bovine rotavirus, and bovine viral diarrhea virus by RT-PCR. Results: Among the three pathogens examined, infection with BCo V was especially prominent in relation to diarrhea among calves aged 1-21 days [odds ratio(OR)=9.3, 95% confidence interval(CI): 1.1-78.9; P=0.02). Infection with BCo V alone(OR=2.9; 95% CI: 1.1-7.6; P=0.03) or coinfection of BCo V with bovine viral diarrhea virus(OR=3.6; 95% CI: 1.0-12.4; P=0.04) was significantly associated with the development of loose feces. Grazing and colostrum intake strongly reduced the occurrence of diarrhea as compared to housed calves(OR=0.2; 95% CI: 0.1-0.4; P=0.00) and calves that had not been fed colostrum(OR=0.2; 95% CI: 0.1-0.7; P=0.02), respectively. Conclusions: The present study suggests that BCo V is involved in calf diarrhea in the Republic of Korea. Therefore, grazing and colostrum intake is recommended for preventing and controlling calf diarrhea caused by BCoV.