title: Restricted variability of a 17 nucleotide stretch within the 5'-noncoding region of poliovirus genome.
abstract: The outbreak of poliomyelitis in Finland in 1984 was caused by a wild strain of poliovirus 3 with uncommon molecular and antigenic properties. We prepared a synthetic oligonucleotide probe complementary to nucleotides 494-510 in the 5'-noncoding part of the genome of a representative strain of the outbreak. This short nucleotide stretch was found to be relatively well conserved within the outbreak and uncommon among 82 independent poliovirus isolates. It may thus be a useful marker for screening isolates to identify those requiring more detailed genetic comparison. The sequences of the corresponding region of the genome are known for 32 separate poliovirus strains and 3 coxsackie B virus strains and show 6 fully conserved nucleotides that could assume a constant hairpin-loop position in a hypothetical secondary structure of the RNA. This could explain the persistence of a particular 17 nucleotide sequence for 40 years in nature in this highly variable region of the poliovirus genome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pöyry
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kinnunen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hovi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014709:Vero Cells
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D012367:RNA, Viral