Whole-Genome Sequencing to Determine Origin of Diarrhea in Suckling Piglets in Southern China

Abstract

Severe diarrhea in suckling piglets occurred in southern China in 2017 and a new porcine coronavirus, named as porcine enteric alphacoronavirus (PEAV), was identified. Here we reported a detailed process to sequence, assemble and analyze the whole genome of PEAV. GDS04 has 87% amino acid identity comparing to the S proteins of the HKU2 strains without recombination, and their receptor-binding domains in S protein differ at 20 amino acids, suggesting that GDS04 could be a new mutant virus from bat-like CoVs and responsible for the most recent diarrhea endemic in pig herds in southern China.