SUMMARY

Restriction enzyme-generated subgenomic fragments of cloned cDNA prepared from RNA of the strain O1 Kaufbeuren (OIK) of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) were compared qualitatively and quantitatively for sequence complemen-tarity with radioactive RNA from strains C Oberbayern (Cobb) and A2 Spain (AES) in hybridization experiments on nitrocellulose membranes. Quantitative comparison of nucleic acid sequences neighbouring (Cobb/OtK) or including (A2S/OtK) the 3' end of the virus genomes demonstrated more than 80 % homology. In contrast, sequences coding for the capsid proteins VP1 (10%, Cobb/OiK; 16 to 21%, A2S/O1K) and VP3 (12%, A2S/O1K) were remarkably heterologous. Sequences downstream from the gene for VP1, i.e. those coding for non-structural proteins, showed 23 to 51 % homology to both RNAs except for the area coding for protein P56a. Here, the observed homology was 82 % to Cob b and 39 to 46 % to AES