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Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Estefania Alves
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Jose P. Araujo
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Escola Superior Agrária, Refóios do Lima, 4990-706 Ponte de Lima Portugal
Riccardo Bozzi
DAGRI – Animal Science Section, University of Florence, Via delle Cascine 5, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Rui Charneca
MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Apartado 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Federica Di Palma
Biodiversity School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR47UH Norfolk, United Kingdom
Ivona Djurkin
Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 1, 31000, Osijek, Croatia
Graham Etherington
Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Colney Lane, Norwich, NR47UZ Norfolk, United Kingdom
Ana I. Fernandez
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Fabián García
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Juan García-Casco
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Danijel Karolyi
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska c. 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Maurizio Gallo
Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Suini (ANAS), Via Nizza 53, 00198 Roma, Italy
José Manuel Martins
MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Apartado 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Marie-José Mercat
IFIP Institut du porc, La Motte au Vicomte, BP 35104, 35651, Le Rheu Cedex, France
Yolanda Núñez
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Raquel Quintanilla
Programa de Genética y Mejora Animal, Institute for Research and Technology in Food and Agriculture (IRTA) , Torre Marimon, 08140 Caldes de Montbui, Barcelona, Spain
Čedomir Radović
Department of Pig Breeding and Genetics, Institute for Animal Husbandry, 11080 Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia
Violeta Razmaite
Animal Science Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Baisogala, Lithuania
Juliette Riquet
Génétique Physiologie et Systèmes d'Elevage (GenPhySE), Université de Toulouse, INRA, Chemin de Borde-Rouge 24, Auzeville Tolosane, 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
Radomir Savić
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Belgrade‐Zemun, Serbia.
Martin Škrlep
Kmetijski Inštitut Slovenije, Hacquetova 17, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Luca Fontanesi
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 46, 40127 Bologna, Italy
This study involved the use of non-human vertebrates.
The author has confirmed that all appropriate ethical guidelines for the handling and use of animals in research have been followed and details of the oversight board have been included in the text.
The author has confirmed that a statement listing potential conflicts of interest or lack thereof is included in the text.
Coronaviruses silently circulate in human and animal populations, causing mild to severe diseases. Therefore, livestock are important components of a “One Health” perspective aimed to control these viral infections. However, at present there is no example that considers pig genetic resources in this context. In this study, we investigated the variability of four genes (ACE2, ANPEP and DPP4 encoding for host receptors of the viral spike proteins and TMPRSS2 encoding for a host proteinase) in 23 European (19 autochthonous and three commercial breeds and one wild boar population) and two Asian Sus scrofa populations. A total of 2229 variants were identified in the four candidate genes: 26% of them were not previously described; 29 variants affected the protein sequence and might potentially interact with the infection mechanisms. The results coming from this work are a first step towards a “One Health” perspective that should consider conservation programmes of pig genetic resources with twofold objectives: i) genetic resources could be reservoirs of host gene variability useful to design selection programmes to increase resistance to coronaviruses; ii) the described variability in genes involved in coronavirus infections across many different pig populations might be part of a risk assessment including pig genetic resources.
Keywords
ACE2, ANPEP, coronavirus, DPP4, SNP, Sus scrofa, TMPRSS2
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This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
This is a preprint, a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Research Article
Samuele Bovo, Giuseppina Schiavo, Anisa Ribani, Valerio Joe Utzeri, Valeria Taurisano, Mohamad Ballan, Maria Muñoz, Estefania Alves, Jose P. Araujo, Riccardo Bozzi, Rui Charneca, Federica Di Palma, Ivona Djurkin, Graham Etherington, Ana I. Fernandez, Fabián García, Juan García-Casco, Danijel Karolyi, Maurizio Gallo, José Manuel Martins, Marie-José Mercat, Yolanda Núñez, Raquel Quintanilla, Čedomir Radović, Violeta Razmaite, Juliette Riquet, Radomir Savić, Martin Škrlep, Grazioano Usai, Christoph Zimmer, Cristina Ovilo, Luca Fontanesi
Samuele Bovo
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 46, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Estefania Alves
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Jose P. Araujo
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Escola Superior Agrária, Refóios do Lima, 4990-706 Ponte de Lima Portugal
Riccardo Bozzi
DAGRI – Animal Science Section, University of Florence, Via delle Cascine 5, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Rui Charneca
MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Apartado 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Federica Di Palma
Biodiversity School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR47UH Norfolk, United Kingdom
Ivona Djurkin
Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 1, 31000, Osijek, Croatia
Graham Etherington
Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Colney Lane, Norwich, NR47UZ Norfolk, United Kingdom
Ana I. Fernandez
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Fabián García
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Juan García-Casco
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Danijel Karolyi
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska c. 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Maurizio Gallo
Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Suini (ANAS), Via Nizza 53, 00198 Roma, Italy
José Manuel Martins
MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Apartado 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Marie-José Mercat
IFIP Institut du porc, La Motte au Vicomte, BP 35104, 35651, Le Rheu Cedex, France
Yolanda Núñez
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Raquel Quintanilla
Programa de Genética y Mejora Animal, Institute for Research and Technology in Food and Agriculture (IRTA) , Torre Marimon, 08140 Caldes de Montbui, Barcelona, Spain
Čedomir Radović
Department of Pig Breeding and Genetics, Institute for Animal Husbandry, 11080 Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia
Violeta Razmaite
Animal Science Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Baisogala, Lithuania
Juliette Riquet
Génétique Physiologie et Systèmes d'Elevage (GenPhySE), Université de Toulouse, INRA, Chemin de Borde-Rouge 24, Auzeville Tolosane, 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
Radomir Savić
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Belgrade‐Zemun, Serbia.
Martin Škrlep
Kmetijski Inštitut Slovenije, Hacquetova 17, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Departamento Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. de la Coruña, km. 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Luca Fontanesi
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 46, 40127 Bologna, Italy
This study involved the use of non-human vertebrates.
The author has confirmed that all appropriate ethical guidelines for the handling and use of animals in research have been followed and details of the oversight board have been included in the text.
The author has confirmed that a statement listing potential conflicts of interest or lack thereof is included in the text.
Coronaviruses silently circulate in human and animal populations, causing mild to severe diseases. Therefore, livestock are important components of a “One Health” perspective aimed to control these viral infections. However, at present there is no example that considers pig genetic resources in this context. In this study, we investigated the variability of four genes (ACE2, ANPEP and DPP4 encoding for host receptors of the viral spike proteins and TMPRSS2 encoding for a host proteinase) in 23 European (19 autochthonous and three commercial breeds and one wild boar population) and two Asian Sus scrofa populations. A total of 2229 variants were identified in the four candidate genes: 26% of them were not previously described; 29 variants affected the protein sequence and might potentially interact with the infection mechanisms. The results coming from this work are a first step towards a “One Health” perspective that should consider conservation programmes of pig genetic resources with twofold objectives: i) genetic resources could be reservoirs of host gene variability useful to design selection programmes to increase resistance to coronaviruses; ii) the described variability in genes involved in coronavirus infections across many different pig populations might be part of a risk assessment including pig genetic resources.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.