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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Evaluation of a Universal Nested Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Detection of Lyssaviruses
Published on: May 2, 2019
First partial characterisation of small ruminant lentiviruses from Greece
K Angelopoulou1, K Karanikolaou, M Papanastasopoulou
1Laboratory of Biochemistry and Toxicology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Abstract:
Small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) infections are widespread in Greece, but SRLVs have never been isolated and characterized. In this study, we present the sequence of a 574-nucleotide (191-amino acid) region of the gag gene of SRLV strains from four sheep and one goat from a single geographic area of Greece. All five sequences appeared to be closely related at both nucleotide (2.1-14.2% variation) and deduced amino acid (1.6-4.2% variation) level. Greek SRLV strains were closer to ovine prototypic strains (average divergence 16.8%) than to the caprine strain CAEV-Co (21% divergence). By amino acid composition, the Greek SRLVs were on the average more than twice as distant from CAEV-Co as from other ovine strains. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that Greek strains segregate into a unique group, separate from, but related to, other ovine prototype sequences.
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