PARTIAL SEQUENCING OF HOG-CHOLERA VIRUS ALFORT STRAIN GENOME AND ITS COMPARISON WITH OTHER PESTIVIRUS STRAINS

After molecular RNA cloning of the Alfort strain (Alfort/LCRV) of hog cholera virus (HCV), the nucleotide sequence of about 70% of the total genome was determined. This sequence was compared with homologous par ts of previously published pestivirus genomes. The average homology wi th another clone of the Alfort strain (Alfort/FRC) was found to be low er (86.1%) than with Brescia strain of HCV (94.3%), while, compared wi th NADL, Osloss and SD-1 (3 different strains of bovine viral diarrhea virus, BVDV), the average homology was 67%. Although the amino-acid s equences show a higher degree of conservation, they had a similar degr ee of homology (92.7, 96.7, 69, 68.2 and 69%, respectively). Partial s equence comparison also revealed that Alfort/LCRV strain was more clos ely related to Alfort 187 (98.6% for the nucleotides and amino acids) and Weybridge (97.3% for the nucleotides and 96.1% for the amino acids ) strains of HCV than it was to Alfort/FRC. These results may indicate that the Alfort/FRC strain has undergone more genomic variations duri ng its historical passage. Genomic relationships among the pestiviruse s are discussed.