Abstract
Jembrana disease virus, the cause of an acute, severe disease in Bali (Bos javanicus) cattle in Indonesia was recently identified as a retrovirus, and possibly a lentivirus. We have produced sequence data representing 598 bp of the pol gene, amplified by PCR from viral cDNA using broadly reactive universal primers for retroviruses and more specific genus-reactive primers for lentiviruses. When the sequence data were compared with that of known lentiviruses and other bovine retroviruses, the closest alignment was with bovine immunodeficiency-like lentivirus (BIV), showing 74% nucleotide sequence identity. This confirmed that JDV is a lentivirus and that it is distinguishable from BIV. The pathogenesis of Jembrana disease is most unusual for a lentivirus infection and differs markedly from that reported for BIV infection.
* Author for correspondence. Fax +61 9 310 4144. e-mail wilcox@csuva x 1.murdoch.edu.au
† Present address: Department of Biomedical and Tropical Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University of Northern Queensland, Townsville Q 4810, Australia.