Comparison of glycoprotein B (gB) variants of the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) isolated from Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

Vet Microbiol. 2003 Jan 2;91(1):11-21. doi: 10.1016/s0378-1135(02)00264-x.

Abstract

The recently described elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHV) have been associated with the deaths of numerous captive elephants. A proposed tool for the detection of EEHV infection in elephants is the PCR-based screening for EEHV-DNA in whole blood samples. Unfortunately, this detection method has only been successful in post-mortem analyses or in animals already displaying clinical signs of EEHV disease, thus rendering this method unsuitable for identification of carrier elephants. Here, we focus on glycoprotein B (gB) for serologic assay development, since gB is an envelope protein known to induce a neutralising antibody response in other herpesvirus infections. We sequenced the entire gB gene from five Asian elephants with EEHV, representing four different gB variants. Computer-aided methods were used to predict functionally important regions within EEHVgB. An extra-cytoplasmic region of 153 amino acids was predicted to be under positive selection and may potentially contain antigenic determinants that will be useful for future serologic assay development.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antigenic Variation / genetics
  • Base Sequence
  • DNA, Viral / blood
  • DNA, Viral / chemistry
  • DNA, Viral / genetics
  • Elephants / blood
  • Elephants / virology*
  • Glycoproteins / chemistry
  • Glycoproteins / genetics*
  • Herpesviridae / chemistry
  • Herpesviridae / genetics*
  • Herpesviridae Infections / veterinary*
  • Herpesviridae Infections / virology
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction / veterinary
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Viral Envelope Proteins / chemistry
  • Viral Envelope Proteins / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA, Viral
  • Glycoproteins
  • Viral Envelope Proteins