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

Abstract

The porcine enteric virome comprises a wide range of eukaryotic and prokaryotic viruses in healthy and diarrheic 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 visualisation 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.