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Troyer, J.L.; Pecon-Slattery, J.; Roelke, M.E.; Black, L.; Packer, C.; O'Brien, S.J.
Patterns of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Multiple Infection and Genome Divergence in a Free-Ranging Population of African Lions
2004  Journal of Virology (78): 3777-3791

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a lentivirus that causes AIDS-like immunodeficiency disease in domestic cats. Free-ranging lions, _Panthera leo_, carry a chronic species-specific strain of FIV, FIV-Ple, which so far has not been convincingly connected with immune pathology or mortality. FIV-Ple, harboring the three distinct strains A, B, and C defined by _pol _gene sequence divergences, is endemic in the large outbred population of lions in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania. Here we describe the pattern of variation in the three FIV genes _gag_, _pol-RT_, and _pol-RNase _among lions within 13 prides to assess the occurrence of FIV infection and coinfection. Genome diversity within and among FIV-Ple strains is shown to be large, with strain divergence for each gene approaching genetic distances observed for FIV between different species of cats. Multiple infections with two or three strains were found in 43% of the FIV-positive individuals based on _pol-RT _sequence analysis, which may suggest that antiviral immunity or interference evoked by one strain is not consistently protective against infection by a second. This comprehensive study of FIV-Ple in a free-ranging population of lions reveals a dynamic transmission of virus in a social species that has historically adapted to render the virus benign.

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