Differentiation of type A, Asia1 and O foot-and-mouth disease virus variants, amplified by the same system, by sequencing of the capsid protein genes.

A reverse transcription-dependent polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is described that amplifies the genes encoding the capsid proteins VP1-3 of at least three evolutionary lineages each of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus types A, Asia1 and O. Most of these lineages are circulating at present in Asia and Africa. The method is not only suitable to confirm suspected outbreaks of FMD, but also describes the modulation of major and minor antigenic sites in the course of an epizootic by nucleotide sequence determination of the obtained RT-PCR products. Such knowledge helps to choose suitable vaccines for disease control.