Construction of genome-length cDNA for foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype Asia 1 IND 63/72 vaccine strain

Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and economically important viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. The virus (FMDV) belongs to the genus Apthovirus of the family Picornaviridae. The FMDV genome consists of a positive sense ssRNA of about 8500 nt encoding a single open reading frame (ORF) which later processed into multiple viral proteins. Although FMDV replication resembles those of other picorna viruses, there are notable differences like broad host range and several unique genetic features. On the Asian continent, FMDV serotype Asia 1 plays a second major role in causing outbreaks after serotype O. The Asia 1 virus displays unique characteristics in its stability, replication kinetics and plaque morphology. In order to study these characteristics we have constructed a genome-length cDNA clone of FMDV Asia 1 vaccine strain IND 63/72. The functionality of the cDNA was checked in BHK 21 cells and it did not yield any viable virus particle. The genome-length cDNA contained a single ORF of 6902 nucleotides terminating at a UAA codon 95 bases from the 3’ poly (A) tail sequence. The 8167 base pair sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence (2330 aa) were compared with the published FMDV sequence of Chinese strain YNBS/58 showed 5.3% variation at amino acid level.