Torque teno viruses are small, non-enveloped viruses containing a single-stranded, negative-sense circular DNA genome enclosed within icosahedral nucleocapsid. The genome of TTV has a range of 2.1–3.9 kb in length. Torque teno felis virus (FcTTV) belong to the genus Etatorquevirus within the family Anelloviridae International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV 2009). Currently only five complete feline TTV genome sequences from GenBank are available, and have been detected in serum and saliva samples. While the prevalence of feline TTV wasn´t described yet.
The objective of this work was to estimate the prevalence of feline TT virus in the Czech Republic. Nested primers were situated in the highly conserved untranslated region of the virus genome. One hundred and ten blood serum samples from cats were examined. The prevalence of FcTT viruses in the Czech Republic was estimated to be 30.9%. In order to confirm specificity of PCR reaction and to perform phylogenetic analysis 300 b.p. DNA fragments was sequenced. Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that sequenced strains belong in one virus species.