Cloning and Characterization of the Genomic RNA Sequence of the Mumps Virus Strain Associated with a High Incidence of Aseptic Meningitis

cDNA clones of the mumps virus wild-type strain, associated with a high incidence of aseptic meningitis (ODATE-1 strain), were isolated and analyzed from genomic nucleotide position 22 to 8520 containing the NP, P, M, F, SH and HN protein coding region. The ODATE-1 strain exhibited a RFLP profile identical to that of the Urabe vaccine strain in spite of the fact that the virus was isolated from non-vaccinated cases. However, a comparison of nucleotide and amino acid sequences among the ODATE-1 strain, Urabe strain and Miyahara strain revealed that the ODATE-1 strain was not related to the Urabe strain.