       Document 0358
 DOCN  M9460358
 TI    The genome of feline immunodeficiency virus.
 DT    9404
 AU    Miyazawa T; Tomonaga K; Kawaguchi Y; Mikami T; Department of Veterinary
       Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture,; University of Tokyo, Japan.
 SO    Arch Virol. 1994;134(3-4):221-34. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/94175772
 AB    Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a member of the genus Lentivirus
       of the family Retroviridae. FIV can infect T lymphocytes and
       monocytes/macrophages in vitro and in vivo, and causes an acquired
       immunodeficiency syndrome-like disease in cats. Several isolates of FIV
       from geographically distant countries have been molecularly cloned.
       There is considerable heterogeneity especially in Env gene among the FIV
       isolates and they can be divided into two or more subgroups. Like other
       lentiviruses, FIV has a complex genome structure. Gag gene encodes
       matrix, capsid and nucleocapsid proteins, and Pol gene encodes protease,
       reverse transcriptase, dUTPase and integrase. The dUTPase is not present
       in the primate lentiviruses but present in the non-primate lentiviruses.
       Env gene encodes surface and transmembrane envelope glycoproteins. In
       addition to the structural and enzymatic proteins, at least three more
       genes (Vif, ORF A, Rev) are present in FIV. Vif is related to the
       infectivity of the cell-free viruses. Rev functions in the stability and
       transport of incompletely spliced viral RNAs from the nucleus to
       cytoplasm and is indispensable for virus replication. Although the Tat
       protein of the primate lentiviruses is essential for virus replication,
       ORF A (putative Tat gene) of FIV is not essential for virus replication
       in established feline T lymphoblastoid cell lines. However, the ORF A
       gene product is related to the efficient replication of the virus in
       primary peripheral blood lymphocytes. In the long terminal repeat (LTR)
       of FIV, there are many putative binding sites for enhancer/promoter
       proteins. Among these binding sites, the putative AP-1 site is important
       for basal promoter activity of the LTR and responsible for the T cell
       activation signal through protein kinase C, however the site is not
       required for the virus replication in established feline T
       lymphoblastoid cell lines. Comparative study of the molecular biology of
       lentiviruses revealed that the genome structure, splicing pattern and
       functional enhancer protein-binding sites of FIV are more similar to
       those of the ruminant lentiviruses than those of the primate
       lentiviruses.
 DE    Animal  Base Sequence  DNA, Viral  *Genome, Viral  Human
       Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline/*GENETICS  Molecular Sequence Data
       Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE  REVIEW  REVIEW, TUTORIAL

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

