Tsinghua University Scientists achieve breakthrough in African Swine Fever Virus research
African swine fever virus (ASFV) results in almost 100% mortality in infected domestic pigs and consequently is a big threat to the pig industry. The spread of African swine fever virus to China in 2018 caused a dramatic loss to the economy. Led by the Tsinghua University Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structure Biology, scientists from Tsinghua University, Peking University, the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute and the Shanghai Pasteur institute initiated joint research into ASFV earlier this year, aiming to develop an effective vaccine or antivirus strategy against the ASFV.
Figure 1. a. A simulated capsid of the African Swine Fever virus. b. Structure of the African Swine Fever virus major capsid protein p72.
On Sep. 17th, 2019, the research group led by Dr. Ye Xiang at Tsinghua University reported in the journal Cell Research the high resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) structure of the ASFV major capsid protein p72. The protein p72 is the most dominant structural component of ASFV and is one of the major antigens. The determined p72 structure showed that three p72 molecules form a trimer structure (Figure 1). The base of the trimer is a pseudo-hexagon of six jelly-roll domains, whereas the top of the trimer is a propeller-like structure involved in receptor binding. Dr. Xiang and his colleagues found that only in the presence of another viral encoded protein B602L, can p72 fold into a correct thermostable trimer structure.
It was shown that antibodies against p72 can neutralize ASFV infection. However, previous attempts to develop ASFV subunit vaccines by using p72 have all failed, which may be a result of using not correctly folded p72. Thus the new findings by Dr. Xiang and his colleagues have revealed key information about ASFV, which is essential for the diagnosis of ASFV and vaccine development against ASFV.
Dr. Ye Xiang, Associate Professor of the School of Medicine at Tsinghua University, Qi Liu and Bingting Ma, students from Dr. Xiang’s lab, Dr. Xu Tan, Associate Professor of the School of Pharmaceutic Science at Tsinghua University, Nianchao Qian and Fan Zhang, students from Dr. Tan’s lab, and Dr. Jianlin Lei, Professor of the School of Life Science were involved in this research.
