Location: Foreign Animal Disease Research
Project Number: 3022-32000-063-025-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2021
End Date: Jun 30, 2025
Objective:
This collaborative research project will focus on a systems genetics approach to investigate host tolerance to natural infections with African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV). ARS hypothesize that host response pathways and networks that define swine ASFV susceptibility and tolerance in domestic pigs and wild suids are translatable into interventions to control ASF. By testing the hypothesis, we expect to identify common pathways and networks of host tolerance and consequent host-centric therapies and countermeasures. In this project we will create of novel reference wild swine genomic libraries for the African warthog and African bush pig that are tolerant and/or resistance to ASFV.
Approach:
1: Create novel reference wild swine genomic libraries for the African warthog and African bush pig that are tolerant and/or resistance to ASFV. The PacBio Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT®) DNA Sequencing System, or similar long-read sequencer, will be used for de novo assembly and full annotations of the wild suidae genomes. The collaborator will perform this task at the facilities of the University of Connecticut.
2: Characterize the in vitro functional genomics of peripheral blood derived macrophages (MØs) obtained from wild Suidae species and from domestic pigs experimentally challenged with ASFV.
3: Characterize the in vivo functional genomics responses of domestic pigs experimentally challenged with ASFV.
RNA Seq will be used to define the transcriptional profiles in Tasks 2 and 3. Transcriptomes from Tasks 2 and 3 will be mapped back to the domestic pigs and wild suidae genomes (Task1) in order to identify DNA polymorphisms that are linked with ASFV tolerance, resilience or susceptibility. Tasks 2 and 3 will be performed at the biocontainment facility at Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC). The collaborator will provide bioinformatic support for RNA seq data analysis.
