Comparing DNA Sequences in Glycoprotein I Gene of Marek,s Disease Viruses of Different Pathotypes

The glycoprotein I gene (gI) of vv +MDV strain 648A was amplified by PCR, cloned and sequenced, its DNA and amino acid sequences were compared to published sequences of vMDV strain GA and vvMDV strain RB1B. The results indicated that the gI sequence of 648A was identical to the published 761 bases of 5 side of ORF of strain RBIB, but there were 8 bases and then 7 amino acids different between GA and 648A strains. All these base changes located at the 5 end of gI, about the one third of the 3 end was identical in different pathotypes.