Capsid protein gene variation among feline calicivirus isolates.
We amplified the capsid protein gene fragments of 30 Japanese isolates of feline calicivirus (FCV), including the C, D, and E regions, by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), followed by direct sequencing. Alignment of the predicted amino acid sequences, together with other published sequences from the isolates obtained in other countries, demonstrated a marked heterogeneity among the isolates, confirming the current definition of hypervariable regions within the capsid protein: these regions give rise to the antigenic variations seen in FCV isolates. Phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequences could not identify significant geographically or temporally separated clusters of FCV isolates, supporting the theory of a single genotype.
Horimoto
T
T
Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Japan. horimoto@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Takeda
Y
Y
Iwatsuki-Horimoto
K
K
Sugii
S
S
Tajima
T
T
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017927:Calicivirus, Feline / Q000235:genetics*; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid