Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

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Feline Immunodeficiency Virus
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FIV/Wild Cat Coevolution
- Originated from the ancestor of all wild cats
around 3-6 million years ago
- Today 84 of the Serengeti lions harbor the
virus,
but show no symptoms of AIDS
- 25 species of cats around the world have been
infected by FIV
- Each of the different species have separate
strains of the virus
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Discovery of the virus

• A domestic cat brought into UC-Davis Neal
  Pedersons lab possessed an immunodeficiency
  virus
• Spawned many questions and much research
• Geographic pattern
• Prevalence among certain types of wild cats

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Virus Transmission
- believed that it is transferred through
aggressive contact
- Hypothesis BIV-gtFIV-gtSIV-gtHIV
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What's going on in their bodies?
- Receptor molecules on T cells
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Lentiviruses

• A species of retrovirus that is characterized by
  a long incubation period.
• Can deliver a large amount of genetic information
  into DNA of host cell
• Capable of infecting neighboring cells in direct
  contact with the host cells
• Five serogroups of lentiviruses- primates, sheep
  and goats, horses, cats, and cattle

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Virus classification Group VI (ssRNA-RT)

• FamilyRetroviridae
• GenusLentivirus
• SubgenusBovine serogroup
• SpeciesBovine immunodeficiency virus
• SubgenusEquine serogroup
• SpeciesEquine infectious anemia virus
• SubgenusFeline serogroup
• SpeciesFeline immunodeficiency virus
• SubgenusOvinecaprine serogroup
• SpeciesCaprine arthritis-encephalomyelitis virus
• SpeciesMaedi/visna virus
• SubgenusPrimate serogroup
• SpeciesHuman immunodeficiency virus
• SpeciesSimian immunodeficiency virus

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FIV and HIV Similarities
www.dr-von-rhein.de
www.life.umd.edu/.../webpages378h/Adams/HIV1.jpg
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Similarities and Differences

• Similar in terms of the organization of their
  genomes
• Both cause the same disease characteristics

• HIV primary receptor CD4
• FIV primary receptor CD 134
• HIV shows tropism for cells of CD4 lineage
• FIV shows more generalized tropism for cells of
  CD4, CD8, and B lineage

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Human immunity to HIV

• 10 human pop. in Europe is immune to HIV
• Attributed to smallpox immunity evolved from
  severe outbreaks
• Both smallpox and HIV have been shown to use same
  chemokine receptors to infect cells

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Research with FIV

• Model for understanding the co evolutionary
  events of this virus
• The lions have the secret to defying
  immunodeficiency viruses
• Through research, we can use FIV for various
  purposes

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Cystic Fibrosis

• Mutations of CFTR genes leads to deficiency of
  CFTR function
• FIV coat is modified to interact with receptors
  on human cells
• FIV delivers enough CFTR cDNA into host cell to
  correct the Cl- transport defect

www.stanford.edu
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Why study FIV and Wild cat Co evolution?

• It is increasingly affecting domestics cats,
  which are dying from feline AIDS
• The high mutation rate can, at any time create a
  new strain of the virus
• Evolutionary studies of lions and other cats can
  give scientists a lead on fighting HIV
• The lions teach us that viruses are just another
  phenomenon of nature and that nature might yet
  show us a way to master them

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