title: Genome Sequence of African Swine Fever Virus BA71, the Virulent Parental Strain of the Nonpathogenic and Tissue-Culture Adapted BA71V.
abstract: The strain BA71V has played a key role in African swine fever virus (ASFV) research. It was the first genome sequenced, and remains the only genome completely determined. A large part of the studies on the function of ASFV genes, viral transcription, replication, DNA repair and morphogenesis, has been performed using this model. This avirulent strain was obtained by adaptation to grow in Vero cells of the highly virulent BA71 strain. We report here the analysis of the genome sequence of BA71 in comparison with that of BA71V. They possess the smallest genomes for a virulent or an attenuated ASFV, and are essentially identical except for a relatively small number of changes. We discuss the possible contribution of these changes to virulence. Analysis of the BA71 sequence allowed us to identify new similarities among ASFV proteins, and with database proteins including two ASFV proteins that could function as a two-component signaling network.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto Nacional de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Parque Científico de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Leticia Tais
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Alí
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alejo
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA)-Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lacasta
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA)-Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Salas
mesh_terms: D000358:African Swine Fever Virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013552:Swine; D014709:Vero Cells; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics