GenØk-Centre for Biosafety, Tromsø Science Park, PB 6418, N-9294 Tromsø, Norway.
Infect Genet Evol. 2012 Jan;12(1):160-8. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2011.09.017. Epub 2011 Sep 29.
Human orthopoxvirus (OPV) infections in Europe are usually caused by cowpox virus (CPXV). The genetic heterogeneity of CPXVs may in part be due to recombination with other OPV species. We describe the characterization of an atypical CPXV (CPXV-No-H2) isolated from a human patient in Norway. CPXV-No-H2 was characterized on the basis of A-type inclusion (ATI) phenotype as well as the DNA region containing the p4c and atip open reading frames. CPXV-No-H2 produced atypical V(+/) ATI, in which virions are on the surface of ATI but not within the ATI matrix. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the atip gene of CPXV-No-H2 clustered closely with that of ectromelia virus (ECTV) with a bootstrap support of 100% whereas its p4c gene is diverged compared to homologues in other OPV species. By recombination analysis we identified a putative crossover event at nucleotide 147, downstream the start of the atip gene. Our results suggest that CPXV-No-H2 originated from a recombination between CPXV and ECTV. Our findings are relevant to the evolution of OPVs.
人类正痘病毒（OPV）在欧洲的感染通常由牛痘病毒（CPXV）引起。CPXV 的遗传异质性部分可能是由于与其他 OPV 物种的重组造成的。我们描述了从挪威一名人类患者中分离出的一种非典型 CPXV（CPXV-No-H2）的特征。CPXV-No-H2 的特征是基于 A 型包涵体（ATI）表型以及包含 p4c 和 atip 开放阅读框的 DNA 区域。CPXV-No-H2 产生了非典型的 V(+/)ATI，其中病毒粒子位于 ATI 的表面，但不在 ATI 基质内。系统发育分析显示，CPXV-No-H2 的 atip 基因与细弱病毒（ECTV）的 atip 基因聚类密切，支持率为 100%，而其 p4c 基因与其他 OPV 物种的同源物相比有所分化。通过重组分析，我们在 atip 基因起始点下游的 147 个核苷酸处确定了一个可能的交叉事件。我们的结果表明，CPXV-No-H2 起源于 CPXV 和 ECTV 之间的重组。我们的发现与 OPV 的进化有关。
