Deletion of CD2-like gene from the genome of African swine fever virus strain Georgia does not attenuate virulence in swine

The CD2-like African swine fever virus (ASFV) gene 8DR, (also known as EP402R) encodes for a structural transmembrane glycoprotein that has been shown to mediate hemadsorption and be involved in host immunomodulation as well as the induction of protective immune response. In addition, several natural ASFV isolates showing decreased virulence in swine has been shown to be non-hemadsorbing suggesting an association between altered or deleted forms of 8DR and virus attenuation. Here we demonstrate that deletion of 8DR gene from the genome of ASFV Georgia2010 isolate (ASFV-G-Delta 8DR) does not significantly alter the virulence of the virus. ASFV-G-Delta 8DR inoculated intramuscularly or intranasally (in a range of 10(2) to 10(4) TCI D-50) produced a clinical disease in domestic pigs indistinguishable from that induced by the same doses of the virulent parental ASFV Georgia2010 isolate. In addition, viremia values in ASFV-G-Delta 8DR do not differ from those detected in animals infected with parental virus. Therefore, deletion of 8DR gene is not associated with a noticeable decrease in virulence of the ASFV Georgia isolate.