Cloning and nucleotide sequence analysis of the P3 region of enterovirus 70.

Abstract

In this study, nucleotide and amino acid sequence analyses were conducted in the P3 region of the Enterovirus 70 genome. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence alignments show that Enterovirus 70 is a picornavirus and is closely related to polioviruses and coxsackieviruses. The 3D$\sp{\rm pol}$ and 3B(VPg) of Enterovirus 70 show higher similarity to the corresponding regions of Poliovirus 1, while two other regions, 3A and 3C$\sp{\rm pro}$, are more closely related to Coxsackievirus B3 sequences. These observations suggest that the P3 region of Enterovirus 70 diverged from poliovirus like sequences. For the two regions which show more similarity to Coxsackievirus B3 like sequences, there is some evidence that this could be the result of recombination, in the P3 region, between an the ancestral sequence to Enterovirus 70 and a coxsackievirus like genome. The importance of the P3 region in transcription, translation, and replication suggests that these recombinational events may be responsible for some of the biological properties of Enterovirus 70, particularly its temperature sensitive nature and broader host range. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)