Nucleotide sequence analysis of equine infectious anemia virus proviral DNA

The nucleotide sequence of the integrated form of the genome of the equine infectious anemia virus was determined. By comparison with LTR sequences of other retroviruses, signals for the control of viral gene transcription and translation could be identified in the EIAV LTR. Open reading frames for gag and pol genes were identified and their sequences matched very closely to those determined previously by others. However, in the present study, the pol gene reading frame was open throughout its entire length. The open reading frame for the env gene product was constructed from the sequences of two independent EIAV clones. Thus, a noninfectious genomic-length clone was shown to contain a frameshift mutation approximately in the middle of the presumed env gene coding sequence, whereas the sequence of another clone was open in this region. The deduced amino acid sequences of the EIAV gag and pol products showed closer evolutionary relationships to those of known lentiviruses than to other retroviruses. There was also partial sequence homology between predicted env gene products of EIAV, visna virus, and HTLV-III/LAV. Sequences analogous to the sor region of other lentiviruses could not be identified in our EIAV clone. A short open reading frame at the 3′ end of the genome that overlapped env but not the 3′ LTR was present but lacked significant sequence similarity to the 3′ open reading frames of other lentiviruses. Thus, the sequence and general structure of EIAV most closely resemble those of known lentiviruses.