Transgenic shRNA pigs reduce susceptibility to foot and mouth disease virus infection.

Hu, Shengwei; Qiao, Jun; Fu, Qiang; Chen, Chuangfu; Ni, Wei; Wujiafu, Sai; Ma, Shiwei; Zhang, Hui et al. · Elife · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is an economically devastating viral disease leading to a substantial loss to the swine industry worldwide. A novel alternative strategy is to develop pigs that are genetically resistant to infection. Here, we produce transgenic (TG) pigs that constitutively expressed FMDV-specific short interfering RNA (siRNA) derived from small hairpin RNA (shRNA). In vitro challenge of TG fibroblasts showed the shRNA suppressed viral growth. TG and non-TG pigs were challenged by intramuscular injection with 100 LD50 of FMDV. High fever, severe clinical signs of foot-and-mouth disease and typical histopathological changes were observed in all of the non-TG pigs but in none of the high-siRNA pigs. Our results show that TG shRNA can provide a viable tool for producing animals with enhanced resistance to FMDV.

Medical subject headings