The Complete Nucleotide Sequence and Construction of an Infectious CDNA Clone of a Highly Virulent Encephalomyocarditis Virus

The nucleotide sequence of a highly variant of the encephalomyocarditis virus, PV21, was determined. Discounting the poly(A) tail the viral genome is 7.861 kb in length, including a poly(C) region of 157 or 158 nucleotides. The sequence differs in 38 positions from another virulent EMCV variant, EMCV-R (1). However, the PV21 sequence shows only 85% identity with two nonlethal variants isolated in this laboratory (2). A cDNA clone covering the complete virus sequence including a poly(C) region of approximately 150 nucleotides was constructed. The recombinant virus was shown to be infectious in NMRI mice.