title: An outbreak of African Swine Fever in Nigeria: virus isolation and molecular characterization of the VP72 gene of a first isolate from West Africa.
abstract: The isolation of 98/ASF/NG, a strain of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) associated with a 1998 epizootic in Nigeria, is reported. This first isolate of the virus from West Africa was identified through a successful polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequencing of a 280 base pair (bp) fragment of the Major Capsid Protein (VP72) gene. Further amplification and sequence analysis of a 1.9 kilobase pair (kbp) fragment encompassing the complete VP72 gene showed that the isolate has a 92.2%, 92.4%, and 97.2% homology with previously sequenced Ugandan, Dominican Republican and Spanish isolates respectively. Of the 50 nucleotide changes observed in this highly conserved gene, 45 were found to result in 40 amino acid changes clustered around the central region (position 426 to 516) of the VP 72 protein while changes at the remaining 5 positions were silent. These changes also led to the loss of two out of the seven potential N-glycosylation sites which are in this gene conserved among all isolates. The possible epizootiological implications of such mutations in a highly conserved gene of a DNA virus is discussed in relation to this outbreak.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Odemuyiwa
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Adebayo
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ammerlaan
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Ajuwape
authors.forename: O O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Alaka
authors.forename: O I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Oyedele
authors.forename: K O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Soyelu
authors.forename: D O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Olaleye
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Otesile
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Muller
mesh_terms: D000357:African Swine Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D000358:African Swine Fever Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D002213:Capsid / Q000235:genetics*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D008168:Lung / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D017354:Point Mutation; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; C063745:capsid protein p72, African swine fever virus