Genomic heterogeneity of small ruminant lentiviruses: existence of heterogeneous populations in sheep and of the same lentiviral genotypes in sheep and goats

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Leroux, Caroline | Chastang, Joëlle | Greenland, T. | Mornex, Jean-Francois

Edité par CCSD ; Springer Verlag -

We have recently shown that French small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) from sheep are more similar to Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus (CAEV) than to visna maedi virus (VMV) in a conserved region of the pol gene. To extend these results, we have examined sequences from a variable region of the env gene in French SRLV. We found that they were nearly equally distant from both CAEV and VMV strains, suggesting a considerable divergence since the initial introduction of the virus. Analysis of separate clones from individual animals showed that some carry a population of variant viruses. The study of further pol gene sequences from both goats and sheep suggests that viral variants show little or no host species specificity. A phylogenetic tree of pol gene sequences confirmed the presence of a novel genotype of SRLV in France.

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