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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1506982
This article is part of the Research Topic Emerging Diseases and Diagnostics in Poultry Production View all 7 articles

Genotype 4 of avian hepatitis E virus was found in Shanxi Province, China

Provisionally accepted
Kuihao Liu Kuihao Liu 1Xueqi Zhang Xueqi Zhang 1Shuning kang Shuning kang 1Yuqi Yan Yuqi Yan 1Wenrui Zhao Wenrui Zhao 1Zhibin Niu Zhibin Niu 1Buting Duan Buting Duan 1Hui Zhao Hui Zhao 2Tiantian Yang Tiantian Yang 1Zhihui Yu Zhihui Yu 1Rui Bai Rui Bai 1*
  • 1 College of Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, Shanxi Province, China
  • 2 Wulian animal husbandry and veterinary management service center, Wulian, China

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

    With the continuous discovery and renewal of aHEV genotypes, the epidemic trend and prevention and control situation have become more severe. In this study, we found a case of aHEV infection from a chicken farm in Shanxi Province, China, and then made an autopsy and histopathological observation of the sick chicken, obtained its capsid protein sequence, and analyzed its genetic evolution, homology, amino acid sites, and selection pressure. After the autopsy, the liver of the sick chicken was brittle, with gray necrotic spots and bleeding spots on the surface.Microscopic examination showed that the liver tissue was scattered in the bleeding focus, macrophages and lymphocytes had infiltrated, spleen lymphocytes had decreased significantly, and homogeneous, red-stained amyloid was deposited. After PCR amplification and sequencing, it was named SXaHEV (GenBank: PP966938), which was 79.6%-85.6% in nucleotide homology with the reference strain reported at present. Phylogenetic tree showed that it belongs to genotype 4. Interestingly, there were two unique amino acid sites in this isolated strain, and a positive selection site was found by selection pressure analysis. This study further enriched the epidemiological data of aHEV, and provided reference for the follow-up prevention and control of aHEV and vaccine development.

    Keywords: Avian hepatitis E virus, Sequence Analysis, ORF2, big liver and spleen virus, genotypes

    Received: 06 Oct 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhang, kang, Yan, Zhao, Niu, Duan, Zhao, Yang, Yu and Bai. 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: Rui Bai, College of Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, 030801, Shanxi 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.