Abstract
Restriction enzyme-generated subgenomic fragments of cloned c[complementary]DNA prepared from RNA of the strain O1 Kaufbeuren (O1K) of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) were compared qualitatively and quantitatively for sequence complementarity with radioactive RNA from strains C Oberbayern (CObb) and A2 Spain (A2S) in hybridization experiments on nitrocellulose membranes. Quantitative comparison of nucleic acid sequences neighboring (CObb/O1K) or including (A2S/O1K) the 3'' end of the virus genomes demonstrated > 80% homology. Sequences coding for the capsid proteins VP1 (10%, CObb/O1K; 16-21%, A2S/O1K) and VP3 (12%, A2S/O1K) were remarkably heterologous. Sequences downstream from the gene for VP1, i.e., those coding for non-structural proteins, showed 23-51% homology to both RNA except for the area coding for protein P56a. The observed homology was 82% to CObb and 39-46% to A2S.