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Pestivirus
 
 
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Pestivirus is a genus of virus
Virus

A virus is a Optical microscope#Limitations of light microscopes infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell . Viruses infect all cellular life....
es that belong to the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Flaviviridae
Flaviviridae

The Flaviviridae are a family of viruses that are primarily spread through arthropod vectors . The family gets its name from Yellow Fever virus, a type virus of Flaviviridae; flavus means yellow in Latin....
. Viruses in the genus Pestivirus infect mammals, including members of the family Bovidae (which includes, but is not limited to, cattle, sheep, and goats) and the family Suidae
Suidae

'Suidae' is the biological family to which pigs and their relatives belong. Up to sixteen species are currently recognized, including the domestic pig Sus scrofa or S....
 (which includes various species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of swine).

iviruses account for important diseases in animals such as Classical swine fever
Classical swine fever

Classical swine fever or hog cholera is a highly contagious disease of pigs and wild boar....
 (CSF) and Bovine Virus Diarrhoea / Mucosal disease (BVD/MD).






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Encyclopedia


Pestivirus is a genus of virus
Virus

A virus is a Optical microscope#Limitations of light microscopes infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell . Viruses infect all cellular life....
es that belong to the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Flaviviridae
Flaviviridae

The Flaviviridae are a family of viruses that are primarily spread through arthropod vectors . The family gets its name from Yellow Fever virus, a type virus of Flaviviridae; flavus means yellow in Latin....
. Viruses in the genus Pestivirus infect mammals, including members of the family Bovidae (which includes, but is not limited to, cattle, sheep, and goats) and the family Suidae
Suidae

'Suidae' is the biological family to which pigs and their relatives belong. Up to sixteen species are currently recognized, including the domestic pig Sus scrofa or S....
 (which includes various species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of swine).

Pathogenesis

Pestiviruses account for important diseases in animals such as Classical swine fever
Classical swine fever

Classical swine fever or hog cholera is a highly contagious disease of pigs and wild boar....
 (CSF) and Bovine Virus Diarrhoea / Mucosal disease (BVD/MD). According to the current O.I.E. list CSF and BVD/MD are notifiable diseases and eradication programms are administered in many countries worldwide. One hallmark of pestiviruses is their unique strategy to establish persistent infection during pregnancy. Persistent infection with pestiviruses often goes unnoticed.

Virus Genetics and Structure

Pestivirus viruses have a single strand of positive-sense
Sense (molecular biology)

Sense, when applied in a molecular biology context, is a general concept used to compare the polarity of nucleic acid molecules, such as DNA or RNA, to other nucleic acid molecules....
 RNA
RNA

Ribonucleic acid is a type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nucleobase, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate....
 (i.e. RNA which can be directly translated
Translation (genetics)

Translation is the first stage of protein biosynthesis . Translation is the production of proteins by decoding mRNA produced in Transcription ....
 into viral proteins) which is around 12.5 kilobases (kb) long (equal to the length of 12,500 nucleotide
Nucleotide

Nucleotides are molecules that comprise the structural units of RNA and DNA. Additionally, nucleotides play central roles in metabolism. In that capacity, they serve as sources of chemical energy , participate in cell signaling , and are incorporated into important cofactors of enzymatic reactions ....
s). Sometimes virions (individual virus particles) contain sections of an animal's genome
Genome

In classical genetics, the genome of a diploid organism including eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a gamete; thereby, a regular somatic cell contains two full sets of genomes....
 which have been duplicated, though this is not normally the case. There is no Poly-A
Polyadenylation

Polyadenylation is the addition of a poly tail, a stretch of RNA where all the nucleobase are adenines, onto an RNA molecule. In eukaryotes, polyadenylation is part of the process that produces mature messenger RNA for translation ....
 on the 3' end of the genome. (This means that these viruses have no post-transcriptional modification
Post-transcriptional modification

Post-transcriptional modification is a process in cell biology by which, in eukaryotic cells, RNA is converted into RNA. A notable example is the conversion of precursor messenger RNA into mature messenger RNA messenger RNA , which includes splicing and occurs prior to protein synthesis....
s, and have simple RNA genomes.) The genome contains RNA to encode both structural and non-structural proteins. The molecular biology
Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecule level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry....
 of pestiviruses shares many similarities and peculiarities with the human hepacivirus
Hepacivirus

Hepacivirus is a genus of the Flaviviridae family of viruses. The only member of the genus is the type species, Hepatitis C virus. Hepaciviruses, like other Flaviviruses, infect mammals....
es. Genome organisation and translation strategy are highly similar for the members of both genera. For BVDV frequently nonhomologous RNA
RNA

Ribonucleic acid is a type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nucleobase, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate....
 recombination events lead to the appearance of genetically distinct viruses that are lethal to the host.

Each virion is approximately 40-60 nanometers (nm) in diameter, and consists of a nucleocapsid
Capsid

A capsid is the protein shell of a virus . It consists of several oligomeric structural subunits made of protein, called protomers; at the same time the 3-dimensional morphological subunits that can be observed, which may or may not correspond to individual proteins, are called capsomeres....
 envelope
Viral envelope

Many viruses have viral envelopes covering their protein capsids. The envelopes are typically derived from portions of the host cell membranes , but include some viral glycoproteins....
d with the cytoplasm
Cytoplasm

The cytoplasm is the part of a Cell that is enclosed within the plasma membrane. In eukaryote cells the cytoplasm contains organelles, such as mitochondrion, that are filled with liquid kept separate from the rest of the cytoplasm by biological membranes....
 of infected cells.

Transmission and Prevention

Pestivirus is widespread in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, mainly in cattle. Some adult cattle are immune to the disease, while others are life-long carriers. If a foetus becomes infected within the first three to four months of gestation
Gestation

Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during mammalian pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
 then it will fail to develop antibodies
Antibody

Antibodies are gamma globulin proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids of vertebrates, and are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacterium and viruses....
 towards the virus. In these cases the animals often die before birth or shortly after.

Symptoms of Pestivirus infection include diarrhoea, respiratory
Respiratory system

A respiratory system?s function is to allow gas exchange. The space between the alveoli and the capillaries, the anatomy or structure of the exchange system, and the precise physiological uses of the exchanged gases vary depending on the organism....
 problems and bleeding disorders.

Pestivirus vaccines exist and the correct vaccine strain should be given, depending on the herd's location and the endemic strain in that region. This vaccination must be given regularly to maintain immunity.

See also

  • List of viruses
    List of viruses

    This is a list of biological viruses, and types of viruses.Please add to this list as appropriate. Note that some of these terms may be synonyms for the same virus; if there is already an article on that virus under another name, please create redirects from the other name as appropriate....
  • Virology
    Virology

    Virology is the study of virus : their structure, classification and evolution, their ways to infect and exploit cell for virus reproduction, the diseases they cause, the techniques to isolate and culture them, and their use in research and therapy....
  • Animal virology
    Animal virology

    The study of animal viruses is important from a veterinary viewpoint and many of these viruses cause diseases that are economically devastating. Many animal viruses are also important from a human medical perspective....


External links

  • - Uppsala, Sweden 2008