Evidence for recombination in the envelope gene of maedi-visna virus.
Frequent recombination occurs during replication in all retroviruses examined. This increases the genetic variation in the retroviral population and may be of importance in the evolution of the virus. Maedi-visna virus (MVV), a retrovirus of sheep, has a highly variable envelope gene. In a previous experiment, 20 sheep were infected with an uncloned strain of MVV and virus was isolated at regular intervals for 7 years. We sequenced the envelope genes of a number of these strains and found evidence for recombination that may have contributed to the observed high frequency of antigenic variants.
Andrésdóttir
Valgerdur
V
Institute for Experimental Pathology, University of Iceland, Keldur, IS-112 Reykjavík, Iceland. valand@hi.is
D000818:Animals; D000940:Antigenic Variation; D001483:Base Sequence; D015752:Genes, env; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012756:Sheep; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016182:Visna / Q000821:virology*; D014790:Visna-maedi virus / Q000235:genetics*
D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins