ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.

Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1614686

Isolation and preliminary pathogenicity of a recent feline astrovirus strain in China

Provisionally accepted
Wenjie WangWenjie Wang1Ya ZhangYa Zhang2Xiang WangXiang Wang3Xu ZhuXu Zhu4Li GongLi Gong4Zheng JingZheng Jing1Ting MengTing Meng1Jiayu ShenJiayu Shen1Yeping TanYeping Tan2Tong QinTong Qin5*Zhimin LiZhimin Li2*Zhenwei BiZhenwei Bi2*
  • 1Jiangsu Agri-animal Husbandry Vocational College, Taizhou, China
  • 2Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS), Nanjing, China
  • 3Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou, China
  • 4Shanghai GlinX Biotechnology Company Limited, shanghai, China
  • 5Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, Beijing, China

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Feline astroviruses (FeAstVs) have been increasingly detected in cats in recent years, yet their isolation and pathogenicity remain poorly characterized. In this study, we screened 86 feline diarrheal samples and identified FeAstV in 9.3% (8/86) of the cases, most of which were co-infected with feline parvovirus (FPV). A FeAstV strain (22SDWH1003-16) was successfully isolated in F81 cells from a single FeAstV positive sample, inducing cytopathic effects (CPEs) over 15 passages. The phylogenetic tree of ORF2 classified the isolate within Mamastrovirus 2 group 1, the most common in the inter-specific transmission within cats. Experimental inoculation of four cats revealed seroconversion in all animals, transient fecal shedding in 3/4 cats, and self-limiting diarrhea in one individual. Co-infection experiments demonstrated enhanced FeAstV replication in the presence of FPV. Our findings provide the direct evidence of FeAstV-induced diarrhea in cats and highlight the role of viral co-infections in disease severity.

Keywords: FeAstV, Isolation, pathogenicity, Diarrhea, Co-infection

Received: 19 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhang, Wang, Zhu, Gong, Jing, Meng, Shen, Tan, Qin, Li and Bi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Tong Qin, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, Beijing, China
Zhimin Li, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS), Nanjing, China
Zhenwei Bi, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS), Nanjing, China

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