title: Gazelle herpesvirus 1: a new neurotropic herpesvirus immunologically related to equine herpesvirus 1.
abstract: A herpesvirus was isolated from Thomson's gazelle (Gazella thomsoni) kept at a zoological garden in Japan during an outbreak of epizootic acute encephalitis. The virus, gazelle herpesvirus 1 (GHV-1), was serologically related to equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1). However, DNA fingerprints of GHV-1 were different from those of EHV-1 and other equine herpesviruses. Southern hybridization with probes of cloned BamHI fragments derived from UL and US segments of EHV-1 revealed differences in the DNA restriction profiles throughout the entire genome. Nucleotide sequences were determined for a conserved region of an essential envelope glycoprotein B (gB) gene and a type-specific glycoprotein G (gG) homologue gene. The predicted amino acid sequence of GHV-1 gB showed 97, 92, 61, and 57% identity to EHV-1, EHV-4, feline herpesvirus, and pseudorabies virus, respectively, indicating that GHV-1 was closer to EHV-1 than any other herpesvirus. The GHV-1 gG gene showed 93.2, 92.3, and 53% identity to EHV-1, EHV-8, and EHV-4 gGs, respectively. GHV-1 was virulent to suckling mice of the ICR strain by intracerebral inoculation and was virulent to 4-week-old BALB/c mice by intranasal inoculation, causing neurological symptoms and death. We conclude that GHV-1 is a new type of equine herpesvirus with strong neurotropism.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Gifu, 501-11, Japan. hfukushi@cc.gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukushi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kirisawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yanai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masegi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirai
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000866:Antelopes / Q000821:virology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004279:DNA, Viral; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology; D004861:Herpesvirus 1, Equid / Q000145:classification; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral