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

  1. Shengwei Hu
  2. Jun Qiao
  3. Qiang Fu
  4. Chuangfu Chen  Is a corresponding author
  5. Wei Ni
  6. Sai Wujiafu
  7. Shiwei Ma
  8. Hui Zhang
  9. Jingliang Sheng
  10. Pengyan Wang
  11. Dawei Wang
  12. Jiong Huang
  13. Lijuan Cao
  14. Hongsheng Ouyang
  1. Shihezi University, China
  2. Xinjiang Academy of Animal Science, China
  3. Jilin University, China

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 siRNA derived from small hairpin RNA (shRNA). In vitro challenge of TG fibroblasts showed the shRNA suppressed viral growth. TG and non-transgenic (Non-TG) pigs were challenged by intramuscular injection with 100 LD50 of FMDV. High fever, severe clinical sign of FMD 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 transgenic shRNA can provide a viable tool for producing animals with enhanced resistance to FMDV.

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Author details

  1. Shengwei Hu

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Jun Qiao

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Qiang Fu

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Chuangfu Chen

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    For correspondence
    chencf1962@yahoo.com
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Wei Ni

    College of Animal Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Sai Wujiafu

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Shiwei Ma

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Hui Zhang

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Jingliang Sheng

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Pengyan Wang

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Dawei Wang

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Jiong Huang

    Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Academy of Animal Science, Urumqi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  13. Lijuan Cao

    College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  14. Hongsheng Ouyang

    College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All experiments involving animals were conducted under the protocol approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Shihezi University (SU-ACUC-12031).

Reviewing Editor

  1. Stephen P Goff, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: February 10, 2015
  2. Accepted: June 18, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: June 19, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: July 15, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2015, Hu et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Shengwei Hu
  2. Jun Qiao
  3. Qiang Fu
  4. Chuangfu Chen
  5. Wei Ni
  6. Sai Wujiafu
  7. Shiwei Ma
  8. Hui Zhang
  9. Jingliang Sheng
  10. Pengyan Wang
  11. Dawei Wang
  12. Jiong Huang
  13. Lijuan Cao
  14. Hongsheng Ouyang
(2015)
Transgenic shRNA pigs reduce susceptibility to foot and mouth disease virus infection
eLife 4:e06951.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06951

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