NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF FELINE PANLEUKOPENIA VIRUS - COMPARISON WITH CANINE PARVOVIRUS IDENTIFIES HOST-SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES

The nucleotide sequence of feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) strain 193 was determined and compared with the sequence of canine parvovirus (CPV) strain N and partial sequences of FPV strain Carl and CPV strain b. Base differences were identified at 115 positions in these 5.1 kb genomes and predicted amino acid differences occurred at 40 positions. The two overlapping capsid protein genes contained almost twice as many base differences as the single non-structural protein gene (49 compared to 26) and about the same ratio was calculated for predicted amino acid differences (27 compared to 13). The 27 variant amino acids in the capsid proteins were clustered at three sites in the primary sequence, whereas 10 of the 13 variant amino acids in the non-structural protein occurred in the 130 C-terminal amino acids. The two FPV strains differed consistently from the two CPV strains at 31 bases: 12 base changes in the capsid protein genes resulted in six amino acid changes, six base changes in the non-structural protein gene resulted in three amino acid changes, and 13 base changes occurred in the non-coding sequence.