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A Comparison of Complete Genome Sequences of the Attenuated RC‐HL Strain of Rabies Virus Used for Production of Animal Vaccine in Japan, and the Parental Nishigahara Strain
Author(s) -
Ito Naoto,
Kakemizu Misako,
Ito Kumi A.,
Yamamoto Atsuko,
Yoshida Yoshio,
Sugiyama Makoto,
Minamoto Nobuyuki
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2001.tb01274.x
Subject(s) - biology , virulence , genome , homology (biology) , gene , rabies virus , virology , virus , strain (injury) , nucleic acid sequence , genetics , attenuated vaccine , amino acid , rabies vaccine , nucleotide , anatomy
In order to establish the molecular basis of the pathogenicity of the attenuated RC‐HL strain of rabies virus used for the production of animal vaccine in Japan, the complete genome sequence of this strain was determined and compared with that of the parental Nishigahara strain which is virulent for adult mice. The viral genome of both strains was composed of 11,926 nucleotides. The nucleotide sequences of the two genomes showed a high homology of 98.9%. The homology of the G gene was lower than those of N, P, M and L genes at both nucleotide and deduced amino acid levels, and the percentage of radical amino acid substitutions on the G protein was the highest among the five proteins. These findings raise the possibility that the structure of the G protein is the most variable among the five proteins of the two strains. Furthermore, we found two clusters of amino acid substitutions on the G and L proteins. The relevance of these clusters to the difference in the pathogenicity between the two strains is discussed.