title: Highly diverse type of equine arteritis virus (EAV) from the semen of a South African donkey: short communication.
abstract: Equine arteritis virus (EAV) was detected by RT-nested PCR in semen samples from a naturally infected South African donkey. Sequence analysis of the amplified ORF5 fragment revealed only 60 to 70% nucleotide identity to a panel of EAV reference sequences. The unique donkey EAV sequence was also found to be stable during passage in horses. The sequence data reported in this study indicate that the South African donkey variant might represent a new genotype of EAV. The distinct genetic properties of the South African asinine strain of EAV suggest a divergent evolution of this arterivirus in various host species or, alternatively, a possible role for African donkeys in the emergence of EAV in horses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Swine Diseases, The National Veterinary Research Institute, 24-100 Puławy, Partyzantów 57, Poland. stadejek@piwet.pulawy.pl
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stadejek
authors.forename: Ch
authors.initials: Ch
authors.lastname: Mittelholzer
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Oleksiewicz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paweska
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Belák
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018174:Arterivirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D007240:Equartevirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018397:Equidae / Q000821:virology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012661:Semen / Q000821:virology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary; D013019:South Africa
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral