Phylogenetic analysis of foot-and-mouth disease viruses isolated in Argentina

We have analysed complete or partial VP1 sequences of 31 foot-and-mouth dis ease (FMD) viruses belonging to serotypes A, O and C to determine the genet ic relatedness of field strains of FMD virus (FMDV) that have circulated in Argentina between 1961 and 1994. Phylogenetic analysis, which also include d 15 previously published Argentinean sequences and six reference strains, revealed that (i) FMD type A strains showed the highest genetic heterogenei ty and could be divided into five lineages with a sequence divergence of 0. 9-18.5% between strains (ii) most of the FMD type O viruses grouped in two clusters (within cluster sequence divergence ranging from 0.2% to 6.0%) cir culating in Argentina since the early 1960s, and (iii) FMD type C viruses w ere grouped in two clusters with a 13.4% nucleotide sequence divergence bet ween each cluster. The availability of sequence data for many more field is olates from the region will enable us to understand the genetic relationshi ps between FMDV strains and to rapidly trace the source of an FMD outbreak for epidemiological surveillance.