Erhard van der Vries, researcher at the Animal Health Service, is the winner of the European PRRS Research Award 2020. This prize is awarded annually by Boehringer Ingelheim for 3 European research proposals that make an innovative contribution to the control of the PRRS virus in pig farming. An amount of 25,000 euros is involved. The researchers want to map the complete genome of circulating PRRS viruses.
PRRS is a disease caused by the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus. The virus leads to fertility and respiratory problems in pigs, with major economic consequences for global pig farming. The research by the Animal Health Service focuses on the distribution of PRRS strains among pig farms in the Netherlands and Eastern Europe and particularly highlights the role of recombinant PRRS virus strains.
The researchers will use Oxford Nanopore Sequencing to map the complete genetic makeup of circulating PRRS viruses. In doing so, they hope to discover how often recombinant or chimeric PRRS viruses occur, and whether there are certain positions in the genome that are extra sensitive to the development of recombinations.
Genotyping of PRRS viruses is a way of determining whether it is a field or vaccine strain via the genetic code of the virus found. This information can be useful for the pig farmer and veterinarian to determine whether additional measures are needed to prevent further spread of the PRRS virus within the farm and to reduce the disease burden.
A small portion of the PRRS virus genome is currently being examined for genotyping. In most cases this provides sufficient information, but more and more PRRS viruses are found that resemble a field strain and a vaccine strain. The presence of these recombinant viruses makes it difficult to distinguish between field strain and vaccine strain. Therefore, entire PRRS virus genomes are sequenced in the new study. This provides a more reliable picture of the identity and source of the virus found.
source: Animal Health Service, 09/10/2020
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