This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Grego, E. Articles by Rosati, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Grego, E. Articles by Rosati, S.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, July 2002, p. 828-832, Vol. 9, No. 4
1071-412X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.9.4.828-832.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genetic Heterogeneity of Small Ruminant Lentiviruses Involves Immunodominant Epitope of Capsid Antigen and Affects Sensitivity of Single-Strain-Based Immunoassay

Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia ed Ecologia, Facoltà di medicina Veterinaria, Università di Torino, 10095 Grugliasco,¹ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell' Umbria e delle Marche, 06126 Perugia,² Istituto di Microbiologia ed Immunologia Veterinaria, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy,³ Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH3 1QD, United Kingdom⁴

Received 7 January 2002/ Returned for modification 4 April 2002/ Accepted 2 May 2002

The pol and gag gene fragments of small ruminant lentivirus field isolates collected in the last decade in Italy were amplified, sequenced, and analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the majority of ovine isolates form a distinct cluster more similar to caprine lentivirus prototypes than to the visna virus prototype. These findings confirm and extend those reported by Leroux et al. (Arch. Virol., 142:1125-1137, 1997). Moreover, we observed that a variable region of Gag, included in the fragment analyzed, corresponded to one of the three major capsid antigen epitopes, which suggests that the antibody response to this epitope may be type specific. To test this hypothesis, two recombinant peptides, derived from the Icelandic prototype K1514 and this novel genotype, were expressed and used in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to screen a panel of ovine and caprine sera collected from different geographical locations in Italy. Several sera reacted in a type-specific manner, indicating that in a diagnostic setting the combination of at least these two type-specific peptides is necessary to cover a wide range of infections. Additionally, these results support the hypothesis of cross-species transmission based on the phylogenetic analysis described above. This has implications for the control and eradication of small ruminant lentivirus infections.