%0 Journal Article
%T First identification and isolation of equine herpesvirus type 1 in aborted fetal lung tissues of donkeys.
%A Tong P
%A Pan J
%A Dang Y
%A Yang E
%A Jia C
%A Duan R
%A Tian S
%A Palidan N
%A Kuang L
%A Wang C
%A Lu G
%A Xie J
%J Virol J
%V 21
%N 1
%D 2024 May 27
%M 38802935
%F 5.913
%R 10.1186/s12985-024-02390-2
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is commonly associated with horse abortion. Currently, there are no reported cases of abortion resulting from EHV-1 infection in donkeys.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>This was the first survey-based study of Chinese donkeys. The presence of EHV-1 was identified by PCR. This survey was conducted in Chabuchar County, North Xinjiang, China, in 2020. A donkey EHV-1 strain (Chabuchar/2020) was successfully isolated in MDBK cells. Seventy-two of 100 donkey sera were able to neutralize the isolated EHV-1. Moreover, the ORF33 sequence of the donkey-origin EHV-1 Chabuchar/2020 strain showed high levels of similarity in both its nucleotide (99.7‒100%) and amino acid (99.5‒100%) sequences, with those of horse EHV-1 strains. EHV-1 Chabuchar/2020 showed significant consistency and was classified within cluster 1 of horse EHV-1 strains. Further, analysis of the expected ORF30 nucleotide sequence revealed that donkey EHV-1 strains contained guanine at position 2254, resulting in a change to aspartic acid at position 752 of the viral DNA polymerase. Therefore, these strains were classified as horse neuropathogenic strains. Lastly, a phylogenetic tree was constructed using the partial ORF68 nucleotide sequences, showing that the identified donkey EHV-1 strain and the EHV-1 strain found in aborted Yili horses in China comprised a novel independent VIII group.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>This study showed the first isolation and identification of EHV-1 as an etiological agent of abortions in donkeys. Further analysis of the ORF33, ORF30, and ORF68 sequences indicated that the donkey EHV-1 contained the neuropathogenic genotype of strains in the VIII group. It is thus important to be aware of EHV-1 infection in the donkey population, even though the virus has only been identified in donkey abortions in China.