OBJECTIVE: To establish a sensitive, simple and rapid detection method for African swine fever virus (ASFV) B646L gene. METHODS: A recombinase-aided amplification-lateral flow dipstick (RAA-LFD) assay was developed in this study. Recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) is used to amplify template DNA, and lateral flow dipstick (LFD) is used to interpret the results after the amplification is completed. The lower limits of detection and specificity of the RAA assay were verified using recombinant plasmid and pathogenic nucleic acid. In addition, 30 clinical samples were tested to evaluate the performance of the RAA assay. RESULTS: The RAA-LFD assay was completed within 15 min at 37 °C, including 10 min for nucleic acid amplification and 5 minutes for LFD reading results. The detection limit of this assay was found to be 200 copies per reaction. And there was no cross-reactivity with other swine viruses. CONCLUSION A highly sensitive, specific, and simple RAA-LFD method was developed for the rapid detection of the ASFV.
African Swine Fever/virology* ; African Swine Fever Virus/isolation & purification* ; Animals ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques/methods* ; Recombinases/chemistry* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Swine ; Viral Proteins/genetics*

Ubiquitin is highly conserved 76 amino acid protein found in all eukaryotic organisms and ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) plays a very important role in regulated non-lysosomal ATP dependent protein degradation. This pathway participates in or regulates numerous cellular processes, such as selective protein degradation, cell cycle progression, apoptosis, signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, receptor control by endocytosis, immune response and the processing of antigens. Nevertheless, roles of UPP in virus infection are only beginning to be clarified. Ubiquitin homology has also been found in insect viruses. All viral ubiquitin genes encode an N-terminal ubiquitin sequence and 3-256 amino acids C-terminal peptides. Most of the residues known to be essential for ubiquitin function have been conserved in the viral variant. In Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV), viral ubiquitin is attached to the inner surface of budded viron membrane by a covalently linked phospholipid and is not essential for viral replication. Currently, insect viruses are the only viruses known to encode ubiquitin. However, ubiquitin also plays a role in the life cycle of other viruses. Host ubiquitin molecules have been found in some plant viruses and other animal viruses. Additionally, Africa swine fever virus (ASFV) encodes a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2) and a putative causal link between human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and ubiquitin was established by showing that depletion of the intracellular pool of free ubiquitin inhibits the virus budding. Further analyses indicated that many retroviruses proteins which are required for efficient pinching off the virus bud contain a late domain. The core element of the late domain is a proline-rich motif (PPXY) which mediates the late domain to be ubiquitinated by cellular proteins. Recently, it has been shown that many retroviruses have developed mechanisms to escape the cellular immune response, to facilitate virus replication and to promote virus assembly and budding via host UPP.
African Swine Fever Virus ; metabolism ; pathogenicity ; Animals ; Humans ; Insect Viruses ; metabolism ; pathogenicity ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ; metabolism ; Retroviridae ; metabolism ; pathogenicity ; Ubiquitin ; metabolism ; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Complexes ; metabolism ; Virus Diseases ; virology ; Viruses ; pathogenicity