Full Sequencing of Viral Genomes: Practical Strategies Used for the Amplification and Characterization of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus

Nucleic acid sequencing is now commonplace in most research and diagnostic virology laboratories. The data generated can be used to compare novel strains with other viruses and allow the genetic basis of important phenotypic characteristics, such as antigenic determinants, to be elucidated. Furthermore, virus sequence data can also be used to address more fundamental questions relating to the evolution of viruses. Recent advances in laboratory methodologies allow rapid sequencing of virus genomes. For the first time, this opens up the potential for using genome sequencing to reconstruct virus transmission trees with extremely high resolution and to quickly reveal and identify the origin of unresolved transmission events within discrete infection clusters. Using foot-and-mouth disease virus as an example, this chapter describes strategies that can be successfully used to amplify and sequence the full genomes of RNA viruses. Practical considerations for protocol design and optimization are discussed, with particular emphasis on the software programs used to assemble large contigs and analyze the sequence data for high-resolution epidemiology.