Since 2010, a variant of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has re-emerged in several provinces of China, resulting in severe economic losses for the pork industry. Here, we isolated and identified a variant PEDV strain, SC-YB73, in Guangdong Province, China. The pathological observations of jejunum showed atrophy of villi and edema in the lamina propria. The sequence analysis of the viral genome identified a six-nucleotide insertion in the E gene, which has not previously been detected in PEDV strains. Furthermore, 50 nucleotide sites were unique in SC-YB73 compared with 27 other PEDV strains. The phylogenetic analysis based on the complete genome showed that SC-YB73 was clustered in variant subgroup GII-a, which is widely prevalent in the Chinese pig population. The recombination analysis suggested that SC-YB73 originated from the recombination of GDS47, US PEDV prototype-like strains TW/Yunlin550/2018, and COL/Cundinamarca/2014. In the present study, we isolated and genetically characterized a variant PEDV strain, thus providing essential information for the control of PED outbreaks in China.
Keywords: E gene; insertion; pathogenicity; porcine epidemic diarrhea virus; variant.