The Nucleotide Sequence and Deduced Amino Acid Composition of the Haemagglutinin and Fusion Proteins of the Morbillivirus Phocid Distemper Virus

Abstract

The amino acid composition of the two surface proteins of the recently isolated morbillivirus phocid distemper virus (PDV) were deduced from the nucleotide sequence. The fusion (F) protein of PDV exhibited characteristics similar to those of other morbillivirus F proteins. The overall amino acid similarity with its closest homologue, canine distemper virus (CDV), was 72%. From the context of the starting codons and the requirement for a hydrophobic signal peptide, it is likely that translation of the PDV F mRNA starts at the third AUG, corresponding to codon 95 in the long open reading frame of the PDV F gene. After removal of the signal peptide, F0 starts at amino acid 105. From this position the F protein of PDV and CDV exhibit 84% amino acid similarity. The PDV haemagglutinin (H) protein showed 74% amino acid similarity with CDV H protein and highly conserved features responsible for the tertiary structure. Despite these similarities, the two H proteins show marked antigenic differences when probed with monoclonal antibodies. Earlier studies have indicated that rinderpest virus (RPV) is the prototype virus of the morbillivirus genus, from which first CDV/PDV and later measles virus (MV) evolved. From the close relationship shown in this study, it is likely that the divergence of CDV and PDV occurred after MV evolved from RPV.

Identification of a Second Major Site for CD46 Binding in the Hemagglutinin Protein from a Laboratory Strain of Measles Virus (MV): Potential Consequences for Wild-Type MV Infection

“…MVH has 60% homology with RPVH at the primary sequence level, and the number and location of the cysteine residues are conserved between the two proteins (15). We used CD46 downregulation as a phenotypic marker of the capacity of the chimeras to interact with CD46: whereas the Hallé H protein has the capacity to downregulate CD46, RBOKH does not.…”

Fusion protein gene nucleotide sequence similarities, shared antigenic sites and phylogenetic analysis suggest that phocid distemper virus type 2 and canine distemper virus belong to the same virus entity

“…Several recombinant clones were isolated and sequenced in both directions with non-radioactive T3 and T7 oligonucleotide primers (Applied Biosystems) using the 370A Automated Sequencer (Applied Biosystems). The nucleotide sequence of the PDV-2 F gene was aligned with the F gene sequences of other morbilliviruses (Richardson et al, 1986;Barrett et al, 1987;Tsukiyama et al, 1988;K6vamees et al, 1991) using the program PILEUP of the GCG software package (Devereux et al, 1984).…”

“…Phylogenetic and bootstrap analyses were performed using positions 494 to 2072 of our PDV-2 and previously published MV, RPV, CDV and PDV-1 F0-encoding sequences (Richardson et al, 1986;Barrett et al, 1987;Tsukiyama et al, 1988;K6vamees et al, 1991). Genetic distances between the nucleotide sequences were calculated according to the two-parameter method (Kimura, 1980).…”

“…In addition, dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) was the basis of an epizootic among Mediterranean striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) that started in 1990 (Domingo et al, 1990;Visser et al, 1990), and from 1988 onward we and others have isolated a porpoise morbillivirus (PMV) from harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in north-west Europe (McCullough et al, 1991;Visser et al, 1993). Of these newly recognized morbilliviruses, PDV-1 has been characterized most extensively (K6vamees et al, 1991;Barrett et al, 1992;Blixenkrone-M611er et al, 1992a;Sharma et aI., 1992) and was recently accepted as a new member of the genus Morbillivirus (Pringle, 1991). However, the phylogenetic relationships between PDV-2, DMV and PMV on the one hand, and the morbilliviruses of terrestrial mammals on the other, have not been studied.…”

Genetic diversity of the attachment (H) protein gene of current field isolates of canine distemper virus.

“…Corresponding divergency determined within the group of field isolates is within a range of 0-7 %. For comparison, the H gene divergence between CDV and its closest relative, PDV, is much greater (33-35 % at the nucleotide level and 25-27 % at the amino acid level ; Curran et al, 1992 ;Ko$ vamees et al, 1991 b). It should be noted that we did not find indications of a skewed relationship of PDV to either the vaccine strains or the field isolates of CDV, and in the following phylogenetic analysis, we used the PDV H gene sequence as outgroup (Scotland, 1992).…”