Yg. Cho et al., Evolution of two types of rhesus lymphocryptovirus similar to type 1 and type 2 Epstein-Barr virus, J VIROLOGY, 73(11), 1999, pp. 9206-9212
Rhesus monkeys and other nonhuman Old World primates are naturally infected
with lymphocryptoviruses (LCV) that are closely related to Epstein-Barr vi
rus (EBV). A rhesus LCV isolate (208-95) was derived from a B-cell lymphoma
in a simian immunodeficiency virus-infected rhesus macaque. The EBNA-2 hom
ologues from 208-95 and a previous rhesus LCV isolate (LCL8664) were polymo
rphic on immunoblotting, so the EBNA-2 genes from these two rhesus LCV were
cloned, sequenced, and compared. The EBNA-2 genes have 40% nucleotide and
41% amino acid identities, and the differences are similar to those between
the type 1 and type 2 EBV EBNA-2, Sequence from a portion of the LMP1 gene
which is extremely divergent among different LCV was virtually identical b
etween the 208-95 and LCL8664 strains, confirming a common rhesus LCV backg
round. Thus, the EBNA-2 polymorphism defines the presence of two different
rhesus LCV types, and both rhesus LCV types were found to be prevalent in t
he rhesus monkey population at the New England Regional Primate Research Ce
nter. The existence of two rhesus LCV types suggests that the selective pre
ssure for the evolution of two LCV types is shared by human and nonhuman pr
imate hosts.