Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0342, USA.
A vaccine against porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), designated PCV1-2 chimera, was recently developed by replacing the capsid gene of the non-pathogenic PCV1 with that of PCV2. The PCV1-2 chimera virus is attenuated in pigs but induces protective immunity against PCV2. In this study, the genetic stability of the PCV1-2 chimera was evaluated for its potential use as a live vaccine. The PCV1-2 chimera virus was serially passaged 11 times in PK-15 cells and 3 times in pigs. The PCV1-2 chimera virus used in this study contained a tracking marker mutation in the capsid gene (F to V at amino acid position 79). Sequence analyses of the PCV1-2 chimera virus after 11 serial passages in PK-15 cells did not reveal any sequence change including the marker mutation. Similarly, there is no change in the genomic sequence of the PCV1-2 chimera virus recovered from pigs during 3 serial in vivo passages. Under in vivo selection pressure, however, the introduced tracking marker mutation in the PCV1-2 chimera quickly mutated (V79F) and restored to its original sequence after one passage in pigs, and remained stable in subsequent 2 passages in pigs. The results indicate that the PCV1-2 chimera virus is genetically stable, and thus should be a good vaccine candidate.