Genome comparison of a novel foot-and-mouth disease virus with other FMDV strains

The genome of a novel foot-and-mouth disease virus, HKN/2002, was 8104 nucleotides (nt) in length (excluding the poly(C) tract and poly(A) tail) and was composed of a 1042-nt 5′-untranslated region (UTR), a 6966-nt open reading frame, and a 93-nt 3′-UTR. Genome sequences of HKN/2002 and other known FMDV strains were compared. The VP1, VP2, and VP3-based neighbor-joining (NJ) trees were divided into distinct clusters according to different serotypes, while other region-based NJ trees exhibited some degree of intercross among serotypes. Mutations in HKN/2002 were revealed, including frequent deletions and insertions in the Ga-H loop of VP1, and deletion involving 10 amino acid residues in the 3A protein. An evolutionary relationship of HKN/2002 with an Asian FMDV lineage isolated from a Hong Kong swine host in 1970 was postulated. A 43-nt deletion identified in the 5′-UTR of HKN/2002 possibly contributed to the loss of one pseudo-knot domain.