title: Gag genetic heterogeneity of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) in naturally infected horses in Canada.
abstract: Gag genetic heterogeneity of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) variants in naturally infected horses in Canada was studied since very limited information is available on the variability of EIAV Gag sequences in public database. A phylogenetic analysis based on 414nts of Gag gene sequences amplified by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed the distinct divergence of these variants compared to other published strains in a corresponding region. Significant predicted amino acid sequence variations were also identified in an immunorelevant region within this fragment which corresponded to a previously characterized cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) epitope cluster (EC2, aa 77-119). Furthermore, alignment of the predicted full-length Gag protein gene sequences of some of these variants associated with clinical cases of EIA in Canada with the published sequences of EIAV originating from other countries revealed conserved and variant sequences in regions corresponding to other characterized CTL epitope clusters, EC1, EC3 and EC4. Conserved sequences identified among different variant strains might have an important implication for their screening and selection of putative peptide epitopes to mediate relevant immune response and cross protection against divergent field strains of EIAV.
authors.affiliation: St-Hyacinthe Laboratory, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, St-Hyacinthe, QC, J2S 8E3, Canada. nagarajanmm@inspection.gc.ca
authors.forename: Malliga M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Nagarajan
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simard
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D004859:Equine Infectious Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000737:chemistry; D015750:Genes, gag; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006736:Horses; D004860:Infectious Anemia Virus, Equine / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D015683:Gene Products, gag