Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
J Virol, January 1998, p. 847-852, Vol. 72, No. 1
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Virology,
Friedrich-Loeffler-Institutes, Federal Research Centre for Virus
Diseases of Animals, D-17498 Insel Riems, Germany
Received 25 August 1997/Accepted 22 September 1997
The genome of the avian alphaherpesvirus infectious
laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) comprises ca. 155 kbp of which ca.
one-third have been sequenced so far. To gain additional sequence
information we analyzed two stretches of 15.5 and 1.9 kbp of the ILTV
unique long (UL) genome region. The larger fragment
contains homologs of the herpes simplex virus (HSV) UL23 (thymidine
kinase) and UL22 (glycoprotein H) genes followed by five open reading
frames (ORF) encoding putative proteins of 334 to 410 amino acids which exhibit no homology to any known herpesvirus protein. RNA analyses showed that these unique ILTV genes are indeed expressed. An origin of
replication separates this cluster of unique genes from a conserved gene cluster consisting of the UL45, UL46, UL48, UL49, UL49.5, and UL50
homologs. The absence of UL47 from this position coincides with the
localization of a UL47-homologous ORF within the unique short
(US) region of the ILTV genome (M. Wild, S. Cook, and M. Cochran, Virus Genes 12:107-116, 1996). Within the second analyzed region the ILTV UL21 homolog was found adjacent to the UL44 gene. We
thus identified five novel herpesvirus genes in ILTV and present evidence for a large internal inversion in the ILTV UL
region, in contrast to the collinear genomes of other
alphaherpesviruses. Interestingly, a similar inversion is also present
in the porcine alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus.
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Gene Arrangement within the Unique Long Genome
Region of Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus Is Distinct from That
of Other Alphaherpesviruses
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Federal Research
Centre for Virus Diseases of Animals, D-17498 Insel Riems, Germany. Phone: 49-38351-7258. Fax: 49-38351-7151. E-mail:
fuchs{at}rie.bfav.de.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| J. Bacteriol. | Mol. Cell. Biol. | Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. |
|---|
| Clin. Vaccine Immunol. | ALL ASM JOURNALS |
|---|