A Novel Subgenotype of Torque teno Virus 1 (TTSuV1) in Slaughter Pigs in China

TTsuV1 can cause persistent infection and unidentified clinical signs in pigs. In this study, a survey of TTsuV1 prevalence was conducted in slaughter pigs from Henan, Liaoning, and Shandong provinces in China. A total of 180 swine lymphoid tissues were assayed by PCR with primers targeting the conserved 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR). The results showed that a 17.8 % positive rate, and different genotypes were detected. TTSuV1 presented higher viral load and prevalence in inguinal lymph node than in submandibular lymph node samples. All TTsuV1 isolates have 84–100 % nucleotide sequence homology in the 5′-UTR region and can be grouped into three subgenotypes (TTsuV1_a-1, TTsuV1_a-2, and TTsuV1_b). Notably, the novel genetic subtype TTsuV1_b was first reported in slaughter pigs.