%0 Journal Article %A Mateu, Enric %A Martín, Marga %A Vidal, Dolors %T Genetic diversity and phylogenetic analysis of glycoprotein 5 of European-type porcine reproductive and respiratory virus strains in Spain %D 2003 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 84 %N 3 %P 529-534 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.18478-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X The gene encoding glycoprotein 5 (ORF5) of 21 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) isolates from Spain and two European-type vaccines currently available in that country were analysed using RT-PCR and sequencing. Sequences were then compared with other European-type sequences available through GenBank. Results showed percentages of similarity to Lelystad virus (LV), which, in most cases, were below 90 %. In contrast, two strains were very similar (>99 %) to a PRRSV variant from the Czech Republic. Evolutionary trees showed three types of strains: one grouped old Spanish sequences; a second grouped isolates from this study together with two Czech variant strains; and the third comprised other GenBank sequences. Regarding the predicted protein sequences, some isolates from this study showed a low degree of similarity to LV (below 50 %) and most of the strains examined had additional N-linked glycosylation sites compared to LV. These results provide evidence of the existence of variant PRRSV strains in Spain with characteristics that may be advantageous for immune evasion. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.18478-0