Vernon S D, Rodriguez L L, Letchworth G J
Department of Veterinary Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706.
Virology. 1990 Jul;177(1):209-15. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(90)90474-6.
Vesicular stomatitis New Jersey (VS NJ) virus is capable of undergoing rapid evolution in nature and therefore has the potential for antigenic variation. We selected an area of Costa Rica where VS NJ virus is enzootic to study whether this virus used the mechanism of antigenic variation to persist in nature. Three sentinel herds and three nonsentinel herds were observed from 1986 to 1988. Eleven VS NJ virus isolates were collected from naturally infected cattle. Remarkably, nine animals that were bled prior to reinfection with VS NJ virus had neutralizing antibody titers up to 1: 102,400 yet virus was isolated from, and disease was observed in, these animals. Sequence analysis of the portion of the glycoprotein gene coding for the neutralizing epitopes demonstrated that all virus isolates were 98-100% similar with no indication of specific genetic variation. The 3' end of the glycoprotein gene also remained stable in that all isolates were again 98-100% similar in nucleotide sequence. Each isolate was neutralized to equivalent titers with monoclonal antibodies directed against four neutralizing epitopes on the glycoprotein. Additionally, preisolation sera from each animal were able to neutralize the virus that caused the subsequent disease. These results provide evidence that antigenic variation is not a mechanism used by VS NJ virus to persist in an enzootic focus of Costa Rica.
水疱性口炎新泽西病毒（VS NJ病毒）在自然环境中能够快速进化，因此具有抗原变异的潜力。我们选择了哥斯达黎加的一个地区，该地区存在VS NJ病毒地方性流行，以此研究这种病毒是否利用抗原变异机制在自然环境中持续存在。1986年至1988年期间，对三个哨兵牛群和三个非哨兵牛群进行了观察。从自然感染的牛身上采集了11株VS NJ病毒分离株。值得注意的是，9只在再次感染VS NJ病毒之前采血的动物，其中和抗体效价高达1:102,400，但仍从这些动物身上分离到了病毒，并观察到了疾病。对编码中和表位的糖蛋白基因部分进行序列分析表明，所有病毒分离株的相似度为98 - 100%，没有特定基因变异的迹象。糖蛋白基因的3'端也保持稳定，因为所有分离株在核苷酸序列上的相似度同样为98 - 100%。用针对糖蛋白上四个中和表位的单克隆抗体将每个分离株中和至等效效价。此外，每只动物的分离前血清都能够中和导致后续疾病的病毒。这些结果提供了证据，表明抗原变异不是VS NJ病毒在哥斯达黎加地方性流行区持续存在所采用的机制。
