Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Veterinary and Zoonotic Infection
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1540849
This article is part of the Research Topic Advances in ruminant viruses View all articles

Detection and characterization of bovine hepacivirus in cattle and sheep from Hulunbuir, northeastern China

Provisionally accepted
Zedong Wang Zedong Wang 1*Jingge Ma Jingge Ma 1,2Zhiwei Wei Zhiwei Wei 3Liang Li Liang Li 2Wei Wang Wei Wang 4Ziyan Liu Ziyan Liu 1,2Ning Liu Ning Liu 1Feng Wei Feng Wei 5*Xiangyu Zheng Xiangyu Zheng 3*
  • 1 Center for Pathogen Biology and Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory of Organ Regeneration and Transplantation of the Ministry of Education, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
  • 2 Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
  • 3 Department of Neurology and Neuroscience Center, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
  • 4 Hulunbuir Animal Disease Control Center, Hailar, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
  • 5 Laboratory of Pathogen Microbiology and Immunology, College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Bovine hepacivirus (BovHepV) is a recently identified member of the expanding genus Hepacivirus within the family Flaviviridae. However, the genetic diversity, geographical distribution, and host range of the virus remains poorly understood. In this study, serum samples from cattle and sheep were obtained in Hulunbuir and pooled to establish RNA libraries, which were then analyzed using transcriptome sequencing. BovHepV-positive samples were confirmed using semi-nested PCR with primers designed based on the obtained viral sequences. Comprehensive bioinformatics analyses were employed to assess sequence similarity, phylogenetic evolution, and recombination of the obtained viral strains. A total of 988 serum samples from sheep (520) and cattle (468) were collected from 12 administrative districts in Hulunbuir from June to August, 2022. Semi-nested PCR revealed 6 BovHepV-positive districts with prevalence ranging from 2.0% to 35.0% in cattle, and one BovHepV-positive district with prevalence of 2.5% in sheep. The nucleotide sequence identities between viral strains from sheep and cattle ranged from 91.3% to 93.8%, while the amino acid sequence identities were between 95.4% and 96.7%. Phylogenetic analyses classified the obtained BovHepV strains within subtype G, genotype 1. Recombination analysis revealed the intergenerational relationships among the viral strains obtained from cattle and sheep. We identified genetic diversity in subtype G strains in cattle and detected a BovHepV strain in a sheep for the first time in northeastern China, confirming cross-species transmission and co-circulation between cattle and sheep, thus expanding the virus's host range.

    Keywords: Bovine hepacivirus (BovHepV), Sheep, Cattle, Phylogenetic evolution, China

    Received: 06 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Ma, Wei, Li, Wang, Liu, Liu, Wei and Zheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zedong Wang, Center for Pathogen Biology and Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory of Organ Regeneration and Transplantation of the Ministry of Education, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
    Feng Wei, Laboratory of Pathogen Microbiology and Immunology, College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
    Xiangyu Zheng, Department of Neurology and Neuroscience Center, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.