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Protein and nucleic acid analysis of influenza B viruses isolated in Italy in 1984
Author(s) -
Donatelli I.,
Mancini G.,
Castrucci M. R.,
Campitelli L.,
Corcoran T.,
Yates P.,
Oxford J. S.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.1890270305
Subject(s) - biology , virology , antigenic variation , virus , nucleic acid , sequence analysis , genetics , rna , gene
Genomic and phenotypic analysis of 30 influenza B viruses, isolated in Italy in 1984, antigenically closely related to the B/USSR/100/83 prototype virus, was carried out using T1oligonucleotide fingerprinting of total RNA and one‐dimensional peptide mapping. The results of fingerprinting analysis indicated an oligonucleotide spot homology of 90–96%, corresponding to a nucleotide sequence variation of only 0.75–0.3%. All the strains appear to belong to the same evolutionary line. Nevertheless, heterogeneity was found at the structural and antigenic level, when the viruses were compared by peptide mapping and monoclonal antibody analysis. No correlation between the biochemical variability of the viruses and the epidemiological characteristics of the different strains was established, which is consistent with the hypothesis that distinct variants, arisen at different times from a parental strain, co‐circulate during an epidemic, although the additional occurrence of random mutations during the evolution of the epidemic cannot be excluded.