Out of the Reservoir: Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization of a Novel Cowpox Virus Isolated from a Common Vole.

ABSTRACT:

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The incidence of human cowpox virus (CPXV) infections has increased significantly in recent years. Serological surveys have suggested wild rodents as the main CPXV reservoir. We characterized a CPXV isolated during a large-scale screening from a feral common vole. A comparison of the full-length DNA sequence of this CPXV strain with a highly virulent pet rat CPXV isolate showed a sequence identity of 96%, including a large additional open reading frame (ORF) of about 6,000 nucleotides which is absent in the reference CPXV strain Brighton Red. Electron microscopy analysis demonstrated that the vole isolate, in contrast to the rat strain, forms A-type inclusion (ATI) bodies with incorporated virions, consistent with the presence of complete ati and p4c genes. Experimental

SUBMITTER: Hoffmann D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4621121 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature