RESUMO
The complete nucleotide sequence of a human T-cell lymphotropic virus type II (HTLV-II) isolate from a Panamanian Guaymi Indian was determined and analyzed. When this new viral isolate (HTLV-IIG12) was compared with prototypic HTLV-IIMoT, the overall nucleotide sequence similarity was 95.4%, while the predicted amino acid sequence similarity was 97.5%. Although the overall percentage of nucleotide and amino acid identity with prototypic HTLV-IIMoT (subtype a) was high, HTLV-IIG12 displayed several distinctive features that defined it as an HTLV-II subtype b. However, there were several characteristics unique to this isolate, which included a cluster of nucleotide substitutions in the pre-gag region and changes in restriction enzyme sites within the pre-gag region and the gag, pol, env, and pX genes. In addition, two nucleotide changes in the C terminus of the Tax protein coding sequence inserted an Arg residue for a stop codon and appeared to result in a larger tax gene product in HTLV-IIG12. Although the HTLV-IIG12 isolate appears to be a variant of the prototypic HTLV-IIb, this information represents the first complete nucleotide sequence of any HTLV-II subtype b. These data will allow further studies on the evolutionary relationships between the HTLV-II subtypes and between HTLV-I and HTLV-II.
Assuntos
Genes Virais , Variação Genética , Vírus Linfotrópico T Tipo 2 Humano/genética , Indígenas Centro-Americanos , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Sequência de Bases , Produtos do Gene tax/genética , Genes gag , Vírus Linfotrópico T Tipo 2 Humano/isolamento & purificação , Humanos , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Panamá , Homologia de Sequência de Aminoácidos , Homologia de Sequência do Ácido Nucleico , TATA BoxRESUMO
A recombinant protein of the human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) gp46 outer membrane envelope, MTA-4 (residues 129-203), reacted by Western blot with sera from HTLV-I-infected individuals from the United States and Jamaica but not with 24 (10%) of 242 Japanese sera. A related gp46 recombinant protein, MTA-1 (residues 162-209), reacted with all 58 sera from HTLV-I-infected US and Jamaican individuals and 238 of 242 sera from infected Japanese (combined sensitivity of 99%). Neither recombinant showed reactivity to sera from HTLV-II-infected individuals or uninfected controls. The reactivity of recombinant proteins containing the region of HTLV-II gp46 analogous to MTA-1 was also evaluated by Western blot: GH2-K15 (residues 157-205) and GH2-K55 (residues 162-205) reacted with 88 (98%) and 89 (99%), respectively, of 90 sera from HTLV-II-infected individuals but not with sera from HTLV-I-infected individuals or uninfected controls. These recombinant proteins should permit the development of assays to unambiguously confirm and differentiate HTLV-I and HTLV-II infections.