FMDV 3ABC poly-protein

The foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is the pathogen that causes foot-and-mouth disease. It is a picornavirus, the prototypical member of the Aphthovirus genus. The disease, which causes vesicles (blisters) in the mouth and feet of bovids, suids, ovids, caprids and other cloven-hoofed animals is highly infectious and a major plague of animal farming. The FMDV capsid is composed of 60 icosahedral units, each of which comprises one copy each of proteins VP1, VP2, VP3 and VP4. Specific enzymatic cleavages in vivo yield mature proteins. The VP1 coat protein contains the main antigenic determinants of the virion, and hence changes in its sequence must be responsible for the high antigenic variability of the virus.