Computational Molecular Analysis of the 5 Candidate Genes of Suidae Family Related to African Swine Fever Occurrence

Suidae family consisting, domestic pig, warthog and babyrousa are identified with even hooves and snout nose. They have been reported to be tolerant to African swine fever virus (ASFV) with the exception of the domestic pig. Domestic pig is valuable for humans as a source of protein all over the world, but is more susceptible to this disease. ASFV has been found in warthog and bush pig. Five candidate genes, RELA, PPP3CB, PPIA, NFKBIA, and NFATC1 have been suggested to be responsible for the genetic variation between the components of Suidae family, which may contribute to the species-specific responses to ASFV infection. This study aims to investigate the evolution, differentiation and functional function of these five genes in three species of Suidae family that are either susceptible or tolerant to ASFV using molecular computational genetics.

The nucleotide and amino acid sequence (aas) of the 5 genes of pig, warthog and babyrousa were downloaded from NCBI, Essembel geneome browser, and Uniprot database. They were aligned and analysed to predict functional effect of amino acid substitution as deleterious or neutral for small insertions and deletions.

The candidate genes were observed to have variants with the exception of NFKBIA. They were observed to have deleterious variants. These deleterious variants may be responsible for the susceptibility or tolerance of this family to ASF disease.