Not only have the order and the orientation of their amino acids been established, but information concerning conformational changes has also been obtained. There is preliminary evidence that a significant proportion of the double-stranded RNA genome of the virus is packaged as an ordered structure within the particle. In serotype O virus this loop has two independent antigenic sites present within a single stretch of the protein sequence. Thus the loop apparently functions as a freely moving, yet internally rigid, structure. Recent experiments have underlined the critical importance of this ability to be mobile.
Any substitutions result in the absence of any viable virus.
It is heparan sulphate. Cell attachment therefore involves the primary receptor on the cell surface followed by internalisation via a secondary receptor, the integrin receptor, which is in a class of cellular adhesion proteins. With the sequence of the genome of ASFV now completed, several genes have been identified, which from their similarity with known genes, may have an important role in modulating the host response to virus infection through the proteins they encode. A238L has been shown to inhibit activation of NFB and thus prevent expression of a wide range of immunomodulatory molecules. EP402R causes the characteristic haemabsorption of red blood cells to ASFV-infected cells and may therefore be important for virus dissemination.