title: A novel porcine gammaherpesvirus.
abstract: A novel porcine gammaherpesvirus was detected in the blood of domestic pigs by PCR. With degenerate-primer PCR and subsequent long-distance PCR approaches a 60-kbp genome stretch was amplified. Sequence analysis revealed the presence of the gammaherpesvirus ORFs 03 to 46 as well as a putative chemokine receptor and a v-bcl-2 gene. The 60-kbp sequence was compared with the corresponding sequence of the porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus 1 (PLHV-1) published recently and the sequence of PLHV-2, which was amplified from porcine tonsil. Considerable sequence differences (amino acid identities: 49-89%) were found between the novel virus and PLHV-1 as well as PLHV-2, which were very closely related to each other (amino acid identities: 85-98%). The novel virus had essentially the same genome organization as PLHV-1 and -2 and was therefore designated PLHV-3. Like PLHV-1 and -2, PLHV-3 was frequently found in the blood and in lymphoid organs of domestic and feral pigs from different geographic locations. In the blood, the PLHVs were detected predominantly in B-cells. Indication for latent as well as productive PLHV-3 infection was found in the porcine B-cell line L23. It can be concluded that the PLHVs are widespread and are likely to cause a persistent B-lymphotropic infection. Since PLHV-1 has been implicated in the development of porcine posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease, all porcine lymphotropic gammaherpesviruses are of concern when pigs are used as donors in xenotransplantation.
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch-Institut, Nordufer 20, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chmielewicz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goltz
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brema
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellerbrok
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beckmann
authors.forename: Hanns-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rziha
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lahrmann
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ehlers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology; D002460:Cell Line; D018142:Gammaherpesvirinae / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013552:Swine