title: Analysis of the haemagglutinin gene of current wild-type canine distemper virus isolates from Germany.
abstract: The haemagglutinin (H) gene sequences from three wild-type canine distemper viruses (CDV) isolated during 1994-1995 were sequenced to determine whether contemporary strains had undergone significant genetic changes relative to the currently used vaccine strains. The new isolates were closely related to each other (> 99%) and displayed about 90-91% sequence homology to the Onderstepoort and Convac vaccine strains. There were one to four additional potential glycosylation sites compared to the vaccine strains which were also present in a German dog CDV isolate dating from 1990. However, only a very slight reduction in neutralizing titre against the new isolates was found when compared with the Onderstepoort and Rockborn vaccine strains. Cysteine and proline residues were well conserved indicating a conserved three dimensional structure for the protein. By phylogenetic analysis the recent isolates showed a narrow clustering close to the previous canine isolates indicating a linear pattern of evolutionary changes. A comparison with published CDV H gene sequences suggested the presence of different lineages of CDV on a global scale and possible cocirculation of more than one genotype of CDV.
authors.affiliation: Veterinary School Hannover, Institute of Virology, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martens
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Greiser-Wilke
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mamaev
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Butina
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maack
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Barrett
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004217:Distemper Virus, Canine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004285:Dogs; D005814:Genes, Viral; D005858:Germany; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D010802:Phylogeny; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins