TY - JOUR
T1 - Nucleotide and amino acid changes in West Nile virus strains exhibiting renal tropism in hamsters
AU - Ding, Xiaohua
AU - Wu, Xiaoyan
AU - Duan, Tao
AU - Siirin, Marina
AU - Guzman, Hilda
AU - Yang, Zhanqiu
AU - Tesh, Robert B.
AU - Xiao, Shu Yuan
PY - 2005/10
Y1 - 2005/10
N2 - Recent studies have shown that West Nile virus (WNV) can induce an asymptomatic persistent infection in the kidneys of experimentally infected hamsters. The chronically infected rodents shed virus in their urine for up to 8 months, despite the disappearance of viremia and the development of high levels of neutralizing antibodies. WNV, like most members of the Japanese encephalitis virus complex (Flavivirus; Flaviviridae), is assumed to be mainly neurotropic; little is known about the genetic basis for its renal tropism. In this study, complete sequence analyses were done to compare four WNV isolates from the urines of persistently infected hamsters with the wild-type parent virus (NY 385-99). Nucleotide changes, ranging from 0.05% to 0.09%, were identified in all of the WNV isolates from urine; most of the changes were in coding regions, causing amino acid substitutions in the E, NS1, NS2B, and NS5 proteins. The genetic changes associated with renal tropism were also accompanied by a loss of virulence for hamsters and a change in plaque morphology.
AB - Recent studies have shown that West Nile virus (WNV) can induce an asymptomatic persistent infection in the kidneys of experimentally infected hamsters. The chronically infected rodents shed virus in their urine for up to 8 months, despite the disappearance of viremia and the development of high levels of neutralizing antibodies. WNV, like most members of the Japanese encephalitis virus complex (Flavivirus; Flaviviridae), is assumed to be mainly neurotropic; little is known about the genetic basis for its renal tropism. In this study, complete sequence analyses were done to compare four WNV isolates from the urines of persistently infected hamsters with the wild-type parent virus (NY 385-99). Nucleotide changes, ranging from 0.05% to 0.09%, were identified in all of the WNV isolates from urine; most of the changes were in coding regions, causing amino acid substitutions in the E, NS1, NS2B, and NS5 proteins. The genetic changes associated with renal tropism were also accompanied by a loss of virulence for hamsters and a change in plaque morphology.
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U2 - 10.4269/ajtmh.2005.73.803
DO - 10.4269/ajtmh.2005.73.803
M3 - Article
C2 - 16222029
AN - SCOPUS:26844432779
SN - 0002-9637
VL - 73
SP - 803
EP - 807
JO - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
JF - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
IS - 4
ER -