Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (12): 5125-5133.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2023.12.022

• PREVENTIVE VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Molecular Epidemiological Investigation of Bovine Coronavirus in Calf Diarrhea in Main Cattle Producing Areas of Xinjiang

WANG Mengjiao1, JIANG Qian1, MA Xuejun3, XIA Ruiyang1, GUO Xueping1, SUN Lei1, ZHONG Qi4, MA Xuelian1,2*, YAO Gang1*   

  1. 1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China;
    2. Postdoctoral Research Station of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China;
    3. Agriculture (Animal Husbandry) Development Service Center, Erliugong Town, Changji City, Xinjiang, Changji 831100, China;
    4. Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Academy of Animal Science, Urumqi 830099, China
  • Received:2023-02-05 Online:2023-12-23 Published:2023-12-26

Abstract: Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is one of the major pathogens causing diarrhea in calves. With the rapid development of cattle production in Xinjiang and the increase number of introduced cattle breeds, BCoV infection is on the rise, but there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of its epidemiological status and patterns. In this study a two-year follow-up survey from 2020 to 2022 on the prevalence of BCoV infection was conducted in the main cattle production areas of Xinjiang. In total 652 fecal samples of diarrhea calves were collected and tested for BCoV by RT-PCR. Genetic evolution analysis was performed on the isolated and identified strains. The results indicated that, the total positive rate of BCoV was 23.93% (156/652), in which it varied seasonally, with the peak in the winter being as high as 50.85%. The incidence of BCoV was higher in the southern than in the northern Xinjiang. Compared with dairy calves, meat calves were more susceptible to infection. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the S gene of BCoV/China/XJ-CJ/2022 isolated in this experiment was most closely in relation to the 2018 strain MN982199.1, the N gene was in relation to the 2018 strain MK095169.1 BCOV-China/SWUN/LN4/2018, the M gene was in relation to the 2017 strain MK095148.1 China/SWUN/SC1/2017, and the HE gene was in relation to the 2017 strain MK095136.1 BCOV-China/SWUN/SC2/2017. There was no genetic recombination occurred between BCoV/China/XJ-CJ/2022 and the BCoV strains from other countries. After nucleotide and amino acid similarity analysis of five structural proteins, the results showed that the genes were still the most similar to the local strain FJ938064.1_E-AH187-TC in China, reaching the lowest 91.50% and 96.70%. The results suggested that the seasonal, geographical and interbreed variability of BCoV infection in the scaled cattle farms in Xinjiang could provide data support for the development of the accurate prevention strategies.

Key words: bovine coronavirus, molecular epidemiology, genetic evolutionary analysis

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