Molecular characterization of a genetically divergent equine pegivirus strain identified in China.

Equine pegivirus (EPgV) is a newly discovered equine virus, which is taxonomically classified in the Pegivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family. Until now, only the complete genome sequence of the first reported EPgV strain, from the USA (strain name: C0035) is available on online databases. Considering this, horse serum samples were collected from horses in China and screened for EPgV RNA by RT-PCR. One EPgV strain, LW/2016, was obtained and its near-complete genome sequence was acquired by standard PCR. Further analysis of its nucleotide sequence indicates LW/2016 is genetically divergent from C0035, with a nucleotide identity of 89.02%. These two viruses clustered into two independent branches following phylogenetic analysis of on the NS3 and NS5B genes. To our knowledge, this is the first report of genetic divergence in the EPgV genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]