Relationships between simian and human enteroviruses

Partial sequences from two genomic regions of simian enteroviruses were ana lysed and their relatedness to other picornaviruses was compared, Of the 18 simian viruses included in the analysis, sequences were obtained from elev en strains for at least one genomic region. In the 5' non-coding region, SV 6, SV19, SV26, SV35, SV43 and SV46 (simian viruses) and BA13 (baboon virus) clearly grouped together with human enteroviruses, whereas SV4, SV28 and S A4 (South African isolate) were more distantly related. In the 3D RNA polym erase-coding region, SV26, SV35, SV43 and SV46 could be clearly identified as enteroviruses and fell into the previously defined cluster A, which cont ains such human viruses as coxsackievirus A16 and enterovirus 71, However, although SV6 and BA13 were also enterovirus-like, they did not belong to an y known genetic cluster of human enteroviruses. Moreover, while SV18 could be recognized as a picornavirus, it did not directly group with members of the genus Enterovirus.