title: Foot-and-mouth disease virus.
abstract: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is an aphthovirus of the family Picornaviridae and the etiological agent of the economically most important animal disease. As a typical picornavirus, FMD virions are nonenveloped particles of icosahedral symmetry and its genome is a single stranded RNA of about 8500 nucleotides and of positive polarity. FMDV RNA is infectious and it replicates via a complementary, minus strand RNA. FMDV RNA replication is error-prone so that viral populations consist of mutant spectra (quasispecies) rather than a defined genomic sequence. Therefore FMDV in nature is genetically and antigenically diverse. This poses important challenges for the diagnosis, prevention and control of FMD. A deeper understanding of FMDV population complexity and evolution has suggested requirements for a new generation of anti-FMD vaccines. This is relevant to the current debate on the adequacy of non-vaccination versus vaccination policies for the control of FMD.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000940:Antigenic Variation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002213:Capsid / Q000502:physiology; D029544:Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000592:standards; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines