DOMINANT GLYCOPROTEIN EPITOPE OF 4-CORNERS-HANTAVIRUS IS CONSERVED ACROSS A WIDE GEOGRAPHICAL AREA

A newly identified hantavirus, tentatively called Four Corners virus ( FCV), was found to be the aetiological agent of a 1993 outbreak of han tavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the southwestern United States. Im munodominant epitopes of 43 and 31 amino acids were identified in the nucleocapsid protein and G1 glycoprotein, respectively. The G1 genes o f different hantaviruses are highly divergent, suggesting that geograp hically diverse FCVs might fail to cross-react owing to antigenic drif t. We now show that the immunodominant epitope of G1 is conserved amon g 18 FCVs from a broad geographical area, despite extensive nucleotide sequence heterogeneity. Antibodies from all 45 HPS patients, separate d by more than 3000 km were shown to be reactive with the dominant G1 epitope. Evidence for limited cross-reactivity between the G1 antigen of a novel hantavirus of the cotton rat and that of FCV is presented.