{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]],"date-time":"2026-08-01T04:58:04Z","timestamp":1785560284644,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785369600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005046","name":"Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["QC2025C009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["QC2025C009"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005046","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"xcellent Master\u2019s and Doctoral Dissertation Project of the New Era in Heilongjiang","award":["LJYXL2024-042"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LJYXL2024-042"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Interferon-alpha (IFN-\u03b1) mediates innate antiviral immunity. Although it comprises multiple subtypes, their functional divergence and application potential remain incompletely characterized. In this study, we identified 13 BoIFN-\u03b1 subtypes (A1\u2013A13) in the bovine genome through bioinformatic analysis. Prokaryotic expression and functional comparison revealed substantial differences in antiviral activity among these subtypes (up to 77.7-fold), with BoIFN-A8 being the most potent. Based on these findings, we designed a novel consensus interferon, BoIFN-Acons, by multiple sequence alignment and successfully synthesized it. When expressed in E. coli, BoIFN-Acons exhibited superior antiviral potency (2.36 \u00d7 105 U\/mg), which was 16.2-fold higher than that of the most active natural subtype. To establish a safe delivery system, we integrated the codon-optimized gene into a food-grade L. lactis expression platform and achieved efficient supernatant production. In vitro assays confirmed that the recombinant BoIFN-Acons effectively suppressed replication of Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and Bovine enterovirus (BEV) and significantly upregulated interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) such as Mx1 and OAS1. Furthermore, in vivo experiments demonstrated that oral administration of the engineered L. lactis strain alleviated virus-induced clinical symptoms, reduced viral loads in major tissues, and induced upregulation of immune-related genes in the spleen, showing significant prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy. Collectively, this study systematically elucidated the functional diversity of BoIFN-\u03b1 subtypes and developed a highly active consensus interferon delivered via an oral lactic acid bacteria system, providing a new strategy for the eco-friendly control of animal viral diseases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16152327","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T08:09:42Z","timestamp":1785398982000},"page":"2327","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A High-Potency Bovine Consensus Interferon Delivered by an Oral Lactococcus lactis System Exhibits Antiviral Activity Against VSV and BEV"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6654-9923","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hongzhe","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rongyan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yang","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingying","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanping","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiaxuan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wen","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyuan","family":"Qiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"258","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.1957.0048","article-title":"Virus interference. 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