title: Detection of koala retrovirus subgroup B (KoRV-B) in animals housed at European zoos.
abstract: Many koalas carry an endogenous retrovirus, KoRV-A, in their genome. Recently, a second retrovirus, KoRV-B, was detected in koalas in Japanese and U.S. zoos. However, this virus is not endogenous, differs in the receptor binding site of the surface envelope protein, and uses a receptor different from that of KoRV-A. We describe here a KoRV-B found in koalas at zoos in Germany and Belgium that differs slightly from that found in the Los Angeles zoo.
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, Nordufer 20, D-13353, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Fiebig
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, Nordufer 20, D-13353, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, Nordufer 20, D-13353, Berlin, Germany. DennerJ@rki.de.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Denner
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000821:virology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001530:Belgium; D005858:Germany; D048368:Phascolarctidae / Q000821:virology*; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
keywords: Endogenous retroviruses; Koala; PCR; Retroviruses