The glycoprotein precursor gene of the attenuated Junin virus vaccine strain (Candid #1)

A live attenuated virus vaccine has been recently developed to prevent Argentine hemorrhagic fever. In this paper, we report the nucleotide sequence of the glycoprotein precursor gene (GPC) of the Junin virus vaccine strain (Candid #1) and its flanking untranslated regions. The untranslated regions flanking the GPC genes of different arenaviruses are variable in length, sequence, and secondary structure. However, when this highly attenuated Junin virus strain is compared with the MC2 strain, which is of intermediate virulence, one nucleotide insertion and four nucleotide substitutions are found at positions that do not affect the predicted secondary structure. When Candid #1 and MC2 RNAs are compared, the nucleotide sequence changes in the GPC open reading frame are concentrated in the amino-proximal and the carboxy-proximal regions. The comparison of the amino acid residues shows that the major changes are located in the amino-proximal region of the GPC.