title: Fusion (F) protein gene of Newcastle disease virus: sequence and hydrophobicity comparative analysis between virulent and avirulent strains.
abstract: The nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences have been obtained for the fusion (F) protein gene of the avirulent strain La Sota of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The F1 N-terminus begins with the tripeptide Leu-Ileu-Gly instead of Phe-X-Gly as usually observed in fusion peptide. It was found that the cleavage-activation domain of the avirulent La Sota strain contained single (but no pairs of) basic residues in the sequence Gly-Arg-Gln-Gly-Arg. Hydrophobicity analysis suggested that the cleavage-activation domain became more hydrophobic and could be less accessible for host-specific protease(s); dibasic residues next to the F1 N-terminus were shown to be important for keeping the cleavage-activation site in exposed positioning, suitable for F protein activation. Comparative sequence analysis of the NDV F proteins revealed a striking homology between lentogenic La Sota and mesogenic Beaudette C strains. Furthermore, 58 variable positions were recorded in the NDV F protein, excluding signal sequence; some of these mutations, in the cysteine-clustered region, were surmised to alter virulence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Free University of Brussels, ULB, Rhode-St-Genèse, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brasseur
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wemers
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meulemans
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Burny
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes; D005814:Genes, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009522:Newcastle disease virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins; D004247:DNA