Genome analysis of small-ruminant lentivirus genotype E: a caprine lentivirus with natural deletions of the dUTPase subunit, vpr-like accessory gene, and 70-base-pair repeat of the U3 region.
The nucleotide sequence of the highly divergent small-ruminant lentivirus genotype E has been determined. The full genome consists of 8,418 nucleotides and lacks two large portions corresponding nearly to the entire dUTPase subunit of the pol and vpr-like accessory genes. Moreover, the 70-bp repeat of the U3 region of the long terminal repeat was observed to be deleted. Interestingly, this lentivirus genotype is able to persist in a local breed population, and retrospective analysis revealed its presence in milk samples collected in 1999. gag sequences obtained from a flock coinfected with the B1 and E genotypes revealed that the evolutionary rates of the two viruses were quite similar. Since a reduced viral load and/or disease progression was observed for viruses with artificially deleted dUTPase and vpr-like genes, it is proposed that this viral cluster be designated a low-pathogenicity caprine lentivirus.
Reina
Ramsés
R
Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia ed Ecologia, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco, Italy.
Grego
Elena
E
Bertolotti
Luigi
L
De Meneghi
Daniele
D
Rosati
Sergio
S
D000818:Animals; D016336:Gene Products, vpr / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006041:Goats; D016180:Lentivirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary; D017972:Lentiviruses, Ovine-Caprine / Q000235:genetics*; D008892:Milk / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011755:Pyrophosphatases / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
D016336:Gene Products, vpr; D014764:Viral Proteins; D011755:Pyrophosphatases; C020020:dUTP pyrophosphatase