GROWTH OF LION AND PUMA LENTIVIRUSES IN DOMESTIC CAT-CELLS AND COMPARISONS WITH FIV

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV-Fca) is a lentivirus that causes gr adual immunological deterioration in domestic cats. Lentiviruses relat ed to FIV have been detected in several nondomestic feline species; th e biologic significance of these viruses remains to be defined. To exa mine the in vitro cell tropism of these nondomestic cat lentiviruses, prototypical puma and lion lentiviruses (FIV-Pco and FIV-Ple) were cul tured in a variety of feline cell cultures. A domestic cat T lymphoma cell line, 3201, best supported the replication of both FIV-Pco and FI V-Ple. Moreover, FIV-Ple was lytic for these cells. RT-PCR amplificati on of a conserved pol gene region demonstrated species-specific primer homology. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of this amplification pr oduct confirmed the identity of the replicating viruses and classified two previously uncharacterized viruses within predictable lion and pu ma clades. Sequence analysis of a conserved pol region demonstrated ho mology with previously characterized FIV-Ple and FIV-Pco. Western blot analysis using domestic cat anti-FIV-Fca sera showed that both FIV-Pc o and FIV-Ple were antigenically related, to differing degrees, to thr ee serotypes of FIV-Fca. These studies demonstrate that though nondome stic cat lentiviruses differ significantly from FIV-Fca and that a vir al-specific protocol may be necessary for sensitive viral detection, t hese viruses can replicate in cells of domestic cats, suggesting the p otential for cross-species transmission. (C) 1997 Academic Press.