Mechanisms and drivers of African swine fever virus vectorial transmission : examination of various tick-virus associations

Abstract

There is currently no vaccine available to control African Swine Fever (ASF), one of the most important swine diseases that ravages Africa, Europe and Asia. To fight the ASF virus (ASFV) that induces infectious disease, understanding the different modes of transmission is essential to apply adequate sanitary measures. One mode of transmission is through the bite of an infected tick. The main objective of my thesis was to understand the mechanisms and factors that determine the vectorial competence of the Ornithodoros soft ticks for ASFV. First, this thesis project showed that the ticks present in Europe are not competent for the strains currently circulating in Eurasia, but can maintain the virus for several months and be infectious to pigs, at least by ingestion. This study also showed that dissemination of ASFV inside ticks towards transmission organs is not enough and must be completed by a sufficient level of viral replication to allow transmission. However, our results also suggest the existence of other factors, partially unknown, that modulate each of these stages. A comparative analysis of two ASFV genomes with different vectorial transmission patterns showed several genetic differences, which may contribute to determining vector competence. In addition, a preliminary study conducted in this PhD project demonstrated that the infection of ticks with ASFV induced modulation of some antimicrobial peptides, highlighting that there is an interaction at the molecular level between the tick and the ASFV. All these results were discussed in regard to potential risks for the establishment of a tick-suid transmission cycle and the implementation of appropriate sanitary measures in these peculiar areas.