Analysis of RNA virome in rectal swabs of healthy and diarrheic pigs of different age

The porcine enteric virome comprises a wide range of eukaryotic and prokaryotic viruses in healthy and diar-rheic pigs. As RNA viruses are considered to be important agents responsible for diarrhoea in pigs, this work was focused on the RNA virome. To identify viruses, a next generation sequencing technique and bioinformatics analysis was employed. A wide spectrum of viral genera with RNA genomes, such as Kobuvirus, Picobirnavirus, Teschovirus, Posavirus, Mamastovirus, Enterovirus and Rotavirus were identified in both diarrheic and healthy pigs. No clear differences in the virome composition were found between healthy and diarrheic pigs. The data visu-alisation using Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling as well as by the Analysis of Similarities test suggested that the virome depended on the age of animals and differed in piglets when compared to weaned and fattening pigs.

Automated summary

This study identified the composition of RNA viruses in both healthy and diarrheic pigs using next generation sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. It was found that the virome composition varied with the age of the animals, and there were differences between weaned and fattening pigs compared to piglets.