Gazelle herpesvirus 1: a new neurotropic herpesvirus immunologically related to equine herpesvirus 1.
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.
Fukushi
H
H
Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Gifu, 501-11, Japan. hfukushi@cc.gifu-u.ac.jp
Tomita
T
T
Taniguchi
A
A
Ochiai
Y
Y
Kirisawa
R
R
Matsumura
T
T
Yanai
T
T
Masegi
T
T
Yamaguchi
T
T
Hirai
K
K
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
D004279:DNA, Viral