Antigenic and structural properties of a paramyxovirus simian virus 41 (SV41) reveal a close relationship with human parainfluenza type 2 virus

Abstract

Seven structural component proteins of a paramyxovirus simian virus 41 (SV41) were identified with the aid of monoclonal antibodies prepared against SV41 and human parainfluenza type 2 virus (PIV2). The nucleoprotein is antigenically very close to that of PIV2, while it is comparatively far from that of simian virus 5 (SV5). The hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein showed no immunological relationship to either of the HN proteins of PIV2 or SV5. The amino acid sequence of the SV41 HN protein was deduced from the nucleotide sequence of its HN gene and revealed that the SV41 HN is unexpectedly close to the PIV2 HN (61.2% identity in amino acid sequence), while the SV5 HN showed only 48.3% identity with the PIV2 HN. The SV41 HN is also related to the SV5 HN (51.3% identity); thus, the SV41 HN is phylogenetically situated between the PIV2 and SV5 HNs. These results indicate that SV41 is the virus closest to PIV2 at present.