The worldwide transmission of African swine fever virus (ASFV) drastically affects the pig industry and global trade. Development of vaccines is hindered by the lack of knowledge of the genomic characteristics of ASFV. In this study, we developed a pipeline for the de novo assembly of ASFV genome without virus isolation and purification. We then used a comparative genomics approach to systematically study 46 genomes of ASFVs to reveal the genomic characteristics. The analysis revealed that ASFV has an ‘open’ pan‐genome based on both protein‐coding genes and intergenic regions. Of the 151–174 genes found in the ASFV strains, only 86 were identified as core genes; the remainder were flexible accessory genes. Notably, 44 of the 86 core genes and 155 of the 324 accessory genes have been functionally annotated according to the known proteins. Interestingly, a dynamic number of taxis‐related genes were identified in the accessory genes, and two potential virulence genes were identified in all ASFV isolates. The ‘open’ pan‐genome of ASFV based on gene and intergenic regions reveals its pronounced natural diversity concerning genomic composition and regulation.

中文翻译：

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比较基因组分析揭示了非洲猪瘟病毒的“开放”泛基因组。

非洲猪瘟病毒（ASFV）的全球传播极大地影响了养猪业和全球贸易。缺乏对ASFV基因组特征的了解阻碍了疫苗的开发。在这项研究中，我们开发了无需病毒分离和纯化的ASFV基因组从头组装的管道。然后，我们使用比较基因组学方法来系统研究ASFV的46个基因组，以揭示基因组特征。分析显示，ASFV具有基于蛋白质编码基因和基因间区域的“开放式”全基因组。在ASFV毒株中发现的151-174个基因中，只有86个被鉴定为核心基因。其余的是灵活的辅助基因。值得注意的是，已经根据已知蛋白质对86个核心基因中的44个和324个辅助基因中的155个进行了功能注释。有趣的是，在辅助基因中发现了动态数量的与出租车相关的基因，并且在所有ASFV分离株中均鉴定出两个潜在的毒力基因。基于基因和基因间区域的ASFV的“开放式”全基因组揭示了其在基因组组成和调控方面的明显的自然多样性。