Naturally occurring feline leukemia virus subgroup A and B infections in urban domestic cats

• Published in: Journal of general virology Vol. 89; no. 11; pp. 2799 - 2805
• Main Authors: Coelho, Fabiana Magalhães, Bomfim, Maria Rosa Quaresma, Caxito, Fabíola de Andrade, Ribeiro, Natália Almeida, Luppi, Marcela Miranda, Costa, Érica Azevedo, Oliveira, Maria Emilia, Fonseca, Flávio Guimarães Da, Resende, Mauricio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Soc General Microbiol 01-11-2008; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Aging; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; cats; Cats - virology; DNA, Viral - genetics; DNA, Viral - isolation & purification; env gene; epidemiology; Feline leukemia virus; Felis catus; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; genes; Genes, env; Health Status; infection; Leukemia Virus, Feline - classification; Leukemia Virus, Feline - genetics; Leukemia Virus, Feline - isolation & purification; Leukemia, Feline - virology; Life Style; Male; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; nested polymerase chain reaction; phylogeny; polymerase chain reaction; proviruses; Proviruses - isolation & purification; Reference Values; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; urban areas; Urban Population; Viral Envelope Proteins - chemistry; Virology; Brazil; Virus; Infection; Fissipedia; Carnivora; Vertebrata; Gammaretrovirus; Mammalia; Microbiology; Animal; Cat; Retroviridae; Feline leukemia virus
• ISSN: 0022-1317; 1465-2099
• DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.2008/003855-0

1 Laboratório de Virologia Comparada, Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antônio Carlos 6627, CEP: 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
2 Laboratório de Vírus, Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antônio Carlos 6627, CEP: 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Correspondence Fabiana Magalhães Coelho fabismc{at}yahoo.com.br
A nested-PCR (n-PCR) was used to detect feline leukemia virus (FeLV) proviral DNA in blood samples from 464 sick and 608 healthy domestic cats ( Felis catus ) selected by convenience, and a significantly high prevalence of FeLV infection was observed. n-PCR results revealed the presence of FeLV proviral DNA in 47.2 % of sick cats and 47.4 % of healthy cats. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that FeLV samples from healthy or sick cats were grouped into separate clades. We determined FeLV subgroups by an n-PCR based on the envelope ( env ) gene. The partial env gene of FeLV Minas Gerais (MG) samples were compared to various exogenous FeLV isolates and endogenous (enFeLV) provirus from the same region. FeLV-B MG samples were more similar to endogenous sequences and to natural FeLV-B isolates than to either FeLV-A or FeLV-C. The results revealed the circulation of FeLV-B in large populations of urban domestic cats in Brazil.
The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the sequences reported in this paper are: AY745878, DQ821499–DQ821502, DQ871351–DQ871353, EU136639, EU436640, EU048344–EU048365, EU048367, EU090943, EU090945–EU090948, EU629217–EU629222, EU783967 and EU636786. Nucleotide sequences corresponding to the env gene of FeLV provirus were also deposited in GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ [accession numbers: 843B-MG (EU783973), 887-MG (EU783967), 914B-MG (EU636786), 918B-MG (EU629220), 922B-MG (EU629222), 1230B-MG (EU629221), 328A-MG (EU629217), 1235A-MG (EU629218) and 1286A-MG (EU629219)].