Nucleotide sequences of Australian isolates of the feline immunodeficiency virus: comparison with other feline lentiviruses

Abstract

Proviral DNA from four Australian isolates of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) was amplified by PCR and the nucleotide sequence determined for two conserved regions within gag (p15/p24) and pol (RT) genes. Comparison with the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of two previously described U.S. isolates from California (Petaluma and PPR), and a third from Maryland (MD) as well as the Japanese isolate TM2, revealed a close similarity between the Australian and Californian isolates with 95-97% nucleotide and 96-99% amino acid homologies. By contrast, the Maryland and Japanese isolates were more distantly related with only 84-87% nucleotide and 90-94% amino acid homology with either the Australian or Californian isolates. The relationship of the Australian FIV isolates to other domestic isolates as well as eight lentiviral isolates from wild felidae (panthers) published previously, was investigated further by constructing a phylogenetic tree based on the pol sequence. This revealed two subgroups of FIV, an Australian/Californian group and a less tightly clustered Maryland/Japanese group. These results suggest that the genomic variability of FIV is reflected by more than simply geographic distance. Furthermore, the relative genetic homogeneity found between Australian isolates suggest a shorter period of evolution of the virus in Australia than in North America.

Comparison of biological properties of feline immunodeficiency virus isolates using recombinant chimeric viruses

“…Owing to the low fidelity of lentivirus-encoded reverse transcriptase (RT), genomic mutation occurs frequently during reverse transcription of viral RNA to proviral DNA (Montelaro, 1992). Further attempts to isolate FIV strains have been carried out worldwide, and comparison of nucleotide sequences of isolates has revealed that genomic heterogeneity occurs among various FIV strains isolated in the U.S.A. (Talbott et aL, 1989;Olmsted et al, 1989b;Phillips et al, 1990), Switzerland (Morikawa et al, 1991), the Netherlands (Siebelink et al, 1992), Italy (Rigby et al, 1993), Australia (Greene et aL, 1993a, b) and Japan (Maki et al, 1992;Miyazawa et al, 1991). These reports also noted a high diversity of biological properties including antigenicity, cell tropism and replication kinetics.…”

Phylogenetic Analyses of Texas Isolates Indicate an Evolving Subtype of the Clade B Feline Immunodeficiency Viruses

“…Studies developed on the basis of the nucleotide sequences from the envelope gene separated FIV strains into five distinct phylogenetic subtypes designated A to E (1, 2, 10, 13,22,27). Although geographic isolation could be a major factor in the evolution of FIV, individual subtypes are found in more than one part of the world (1,2,5,13,19,27). For example, subtypes A and B have been isolated from cats in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia, and subtype C-infected cats have been identified in North America, Europe, and Taiwan.…”

“…A number of FIV strains have been identified throughout the world, and their corresponding genomes have been partially sequenced (1,5,6,10,13,15,18,19,22,27,32). Studies developed on the basis of the nucleotide sequences from the envelope gene separated FIV strains into five distinct phylogenetic subtypes designated A to E (1, 2, 10, 13,22,27).…”

Caracterização filogenética de amostras do vírus da imunodeficiência felina (FIV) do Estado de São Paulo

“…Adicionalmente, o gene gag apresenta uma taxa de conservação mais elevada que o gene env. Entretanto, as mutações encontradas fazem deste gene um candidato adequado para estudos filogenéticos (Clavel et al 1986, Fisher et al 1988, Greene et al 1993, Hohdatsu et al 1998.…”

“…O subtipo A inclui as cepas de FIV isoladas na Califórnia, Austrália e Europa (Greene et al 1993, Bachmann et al 1997, Pistello et al 1997; o subtipo B abrange as cepas isoladas no Japão, na região central e leste dos EUA e Europa (Bachmann et al 1997, Nishimura et al 1998, Duarte et al 2002; o subtipo C inclui as cepas isoladas no Canadá, Europa e Formosa (Sodora et al 1994, Kakinuma et al 1995, Inada et al 1997; o subtipo D foi, até o presente momento, somente identificado no Japão (Kakinuma et al 1995) e o subtipo E foi identificado na Argentina e Japão (Sodora et al 1994, Pecoraro et al 1996. Os subtipos A e B têm sido os mais freqüentemente identificados (Duarte & Tavares 2005) e estudos recentes demonstraram a ocorrência de subgrupos dentro do subtipo B (Steinrigl & Klein 2003, Weaver et al 2004, Duarte & Tavares 2005, refletindo a diversidade genética observada nos diferentes subtipos do FIV (Sodora et al 1994, Bachmann et al 1997.…”