Agriculture, veterinary, biotechnology

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the causative agent of a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease of domestic and wild pigs. Highly virulent ASFV strains cause 100% mortality in affected herds. Due to the lack of effective vaccines, ASFV has devastating socioeconomic impact on pig farming industry. It has been discovered that two plant-derived compounds, apigenin and genistein, exert potent antiviral activity against ASFV, targeting different stages of viral life cycle. Apigenin is able to reduce the ASFV yield by 1000 times (3 log). This compound is highly effective, when it is added at early hours post-infection. Apigenin inhibits the synthesis of viral DNA and proteins. Genistein inhibits ASFV DNA replication by targeting the ATPbinding site of viral topoisomerase II enzyme. As a result, genistein impairs the function of viral enzyme leading to the decrease in viral yield by more than 3 log. Since the ATP-binding site is highly conserved in different ASFV strains, it may serve as a good target for further antiviral drug discovery and development.

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The organization of a joint venture, an investor’s share will depend on the amount of invested funds and project involvement stage

Arsen Arakelyan, Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA
E-mail: aarakelyan {[ at ]} sci.am
Tel.: (+374 10) 281626