Conclusions:
Complete genome analyses showed the continuous evolution of genotype-II
ASFV (Georgia/2007) with accumulation of SNPs, deletions and insertions
through various regions in the genome of Indian ASFV isolated in 2020.
The nucleotide identity and phylogenetic analysis indicated that
ASFV/Wuhan/2019-1 could be the closest ancestor to the Indian viruses.
The Indian isolates had unique SNP with predicted amino acid transitions
viz., E294G in MGF 369-11L, K225E in MGF 505-4R, R188K in K205R and
V168A in B263R genes. Significance of these unique SNP and frame shifts
in DP60R, ASFV-G_ACD 00190, MGF 110-10-L- MGF110-14L fusion, MGF
360-14L and I267L genes in altering the virulence, replication and other
properties of virus needs to be elucidated. Thus, our study is the first
complete genome characterization of ASF viruses isolated from domestic
pigs in India and provides important insights on their genetic
relatedness/divergence with other ASF viruses of p72-genotype-II. The
study also indicates that number of TRS in the intergenic region between
I73R and I329L genes, and the 14 ORFs with SNP reported could be the
genetic determinants to differentiate closely related p72-genotype II
ASF viruses circulating in Asia.