title: First partial characterisation of small ruminant lentiviruses from Greece.
abstract: Small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) infections are widespread in Greece, but SRLVs have never been isolated and characterized. In this study, we present the sequence of a 574-nucleotide (191-amino acid) region of the gag gene of SRLV strains from four sheep and one goat from a single geographic area of Greece. All five sequences appeared to be closely related at both nucleotide (2.1-14.2% variation) and deduced amino acid (1.6-4.2% variation) level. Greek SRLV strains were closer to ovine prototypic strains (average divergence 16.8%) than to the caprine strain CAEV-Co (21% divergence). By amino acid composition, the Greek SRLVs were on the average more than twice as distant from CAEV-Co as from other ovine strains. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that Greek strains segregate into a unique group, separate from, but related to, other ovine prototype sequences.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry and Toxicology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Angelopoulou
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karanikolaou
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papanastasopoulou
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koumpati-Artopiou
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vlemmas
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koptopoulos
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015750:Genes, gag / Q000235:genetics; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D006041:Goats; D006115:Greece; D016180:Lentivirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D017972:Lentiviruses, Ovine-Caprine / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral