Host range of poliovirus is restricted to simians because of a rapid sequence change of the poliovirus receptor gene during evolution

Summary.

 The host range of most poliovirus (PV) strains is restricted to simians. This host range specificity is believed to be determined by the interaction between PV and its receptor molecule. To elucidate the molecular basis of this species-specific infection of PV, we cloned orthologs of the PV receptor (PVR) gene (pvr) as well as those of PV receptor-related genes 1 and 2 (prr1 and prr2) from various mammalian species. These three genes are widely present in mammalian genomes including those of non-susceptible species. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of PVR orthologs revealed that the NH₂-terminal immunoglobulin-like domain (domain 1), which is the virus binding site in the human PVR, is highly variable among species, whereas that of PRR1 is highly conserved. Domain 1 of the PVR orthologs for the ring-tailed lemur and rabbit, which are not susceptible to PV, show only 51 and 61% amino acid sequence identity to that of human PVR, respectively. Chimeric PVR proteins that have the domain 1 of the ring-tailed lemur and rabbit PVRs failed to serve as receptors for PV. These results suggest that rapid changes in the domain 1 sequence during mammalian evolution determined the host range restriction of PV.

Note: Nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/ GenBank databases under the following accession numbers; brown capuchin pvr: AB086124 to AB086131, ring-tailed lemur pvr: AB086132 to AB086137, rabbit pvr: AB086138 to AB086144, pvr gene fragment of squirrel monkey: AB086252, gorilla: AB086253, common marmoset: AB086254, chimpanzee: AB086255, prr1 gene fragment of African green monkey: AB086001, bovine: AB086002, brown capuchin: AB086003, squirrel monkey: AB086004, ring-tailed lemur: AB086005, rabbit: AB086006, gorilla: AB086007, dog: AB086008, common marmoset: AB086009, dolphin: AB086010, chimpanzee: AB086145, and mole: AB086146. prr2 gene fragment of African green monkey: AB086147, bovine: AB086148, brown capuchin: AB086149, squirrel monkey: AB086150, ring-tailed lemur: AB086151, rabbit: AB086152, gorilla: AB086153, dog: AB086154, common marmoset: AB086155, dolphin: AB086156, chimpanzee: AB086157, mole: AB086158.