Isolation and oral immunogenicity assessment of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus NH-TA2020 strain: One of the predominant strains circulating in China from 2017 to 2021

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is one of the most devastating diseases in the global pig industry due to its high mortality rate in piglets. Maternal vaccines can effectively enhance the gut-mammary gland-secretory IgA axis to boost lactogenic immunity and passive protection of nursing piglets against PEDV challenge. From 2017 to 2021, we collected 882 diarrhea samples from 303 farms in China to investigate the epidemiology of PEDV. The result showed that about 52.15% (158/303) of the farms were positive for PEDV with an overall detection rate of 63.95% (564/882) of the samples. The S1 fragments of S gene from 104 strains were sequenced for the phylogenetic analysis. A total of 71 PEDV strains (68.27%) sequenced in this study were clustered into the predominant G2c subgroup, while the newly-defined G2d strains (9.62%) were identified in three provinces of China. The NH-TA2020 strain of G2c subgroup was isolated and cultured, and its infection to piglets caused watery diarrhea within 24 ​h, indicating its strong pathogenicity. Oral administration of NH-TA2020 strain to pregnant gilts stimulated high levels of IgA antibody in colostrum. The piglets fed by the gilts above were challenged with NH-TA2020 strain or CH–HeB-RY-2020 strain from G2d subgroup, and the clinical symptoms and virus shedding were significantly reduced compared to the mock group. Our findings suggest that G2c subgroup is the predominant branch circulating in China from 2017 to 2021. Oral administration of NH-TA2020 enhances maternal IgA and lactogenic immune responses, which confer protection against the homologous and emerging G2d PEDV strains challenges in neonates.