Two viruses, A− with a 13 amino acid deletion within the VP1 G-H loop and A+ with the native VP1 G-H loop, were derived from a Middle Eastern serotype A vaccine strain of FMDV by three rounds of plaque purification in BHK-21 cell cultures. Field isolates of FMDV serotype A, namely, A22/IRQ/24/64, A/IRN/2/87, A/IRN/41/2003, A/IRN/4/2005, A/IRN/5/2005, A/IRN/31/2001, A/IRN/6/2002, A/IRN/32/2004, A/KEN/2/2003, A/LAO/36/2003, A/MAY/2/2002,

A/PAK/9/2003, A/PAK/11/2003, click here A/TAI/10/2003, and A/TUR/5/2003, were received as primary bovine thyroid cell culture supernatants from the World Reference Laboratory for FMD (WRLFMD) at Pirbright. These viruses were subsequently passaged once in BHK-21 monolayer cells in 175 cm2 flasks in order to increase the virus titre and volume. The sequence of the capsid coding regions which encode the VP1 G-H loops of the A+ and A− viruses were determined to confirm that the VP1 G-H loop was retained in the A+ and that the loop deletion remained in the A− following one passage on BHK-21 cells. Sequencing and comparison between the entire capsid coding regions of A+ and A− were Lapatinib in vivo also performed to resolve any other amino acid changes. Total RNA was obtained using RNeasy Kit (Qiagen) following the manufacturer’s guidelines. The capsid coding region was obtained using Ready-To-Go™ RT-PCR

beads (GE Healthcare) in seven overlapping fragments using a one-step reverse transcription polymerase

chain reaction (RT-PCR), 14 primers (LF, ACCCCTGGACACCGGACCCGTC, 516R, TGTTCGGTGGGGAGTTCCAAC, 252F, CGCCGACAAAAAGACAGAGG, 875R, TGGGTTGGGGCGATGTTGGCGT, 552F, CGCGTACATGAGAAATGGCTG, 1159R, TTGCAGCCAGGGAAACATCAAAC, 854F, ACGCCAACATCGCCCCAACCCA, 1438R, CTGCCACGTCAGACGCGGTGT, 1137F, GTTTGATGTTTCCCTGGCTGCAA, 1743R, GTGGGTCTGCATGAGGTCAATG, 1420F, ACCGCGTCTGACGTGGCAGA, 2088R, GTGGATGGTCGTGGCCCGAATT, 1728F, CCTCATGCAGACCCACCAACAC, NK61, GACATGTCCTCCTGCATCTG) and cycle parameters (50 °C for 30 min, 95 °C for 15 min, [94 °C – 1 min, 55 °C – 1 min, 72 °C – 1 min] × 35 cycles, Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II 72 °C – 10 min). All thermal treatments were performed on an Eppendorf mastercycler (Eppendorf). RT-PCR reactions were separated on an appropriate percentage agarose gel and the products visualised by ethidium bromide staining. RT-PCR products were purified using a GFX DNA purification kit (GE Healthcare) following manufacturer’s guidelines. PCR products were sequenced using the BigDye® Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit (Applied Biosystems) as per the manufacturer’s guidelines. The same 14 primers detailed for the RT-PCR were used for the sequencing reactions in conjunction with cycle parameters of 96 °C for 1 min, [96 °C for 10 s, 5 °C – 5 s, 60 °C – 4 min] × 25 cycles provided by an Eppendorf Mastercycler (Eppendorf). Subsequent sequencing was performed on an Applied Biosystems (ABI) 3730 DNA analyser.