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Macropodid Herpesvirus 1 Encodes Genes for Both Thymidylate Synthase and ICP34.5

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Abstract

Macropodid herpesvirus 1 (MaHV-1) is an unclassified alphaherpesvirus linked with the fatal infections of kangaroos and other marsupials. During the characterisation of the internal repeat region of MaHV-1, an open reading frame (ORF) encoding for thymidylate synthase (TS) gene was identified and completely sequenced. Southern blot analysis confirmed the presence of two copies of the TS gene in the MaHV-1 genome as expected. Computer analysis of the TS ORF showed it was 948 nucleotides in length. A putative polyadenylation signal was identified 17–22 bp inside the ORF implying a minimal or absent 3′ untranslated region. The predicted polypeptide was 316 amino acid residues in length and contained the highly conserved motifs for folate binding and F-dUMP binding, typical of all TS enzymes. Interestingly, MaHV-1 TS polypeptide had highest similarity to the human TS polypeptide (81%) compared to the TS polypeptides of other herpesviruses (72–75%). Immediately upstream of the TS gene, a second ORF of 510 bp, encoding a polypeptide with 170 amino acid residues, was identified. The carboxyl domain of this MaHV-1 polypeptide shared 68% similarity to a 59 amino acid motif of human herpesvirus 1 ICP34.5, identifying it as the MaHV-1 ICP34.5 homologue. This is the first report of a herpesvirus that encodes for both TS and ICP34.5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gehrmann Laboratories, Queensland Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Level-4, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia

    Sandeep Guliani, Peter Young & Timothy J. Mahony

  2. Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia

    Sandeep Guliani

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia

    Sandeep Guliani

  4. Queensland Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Level-4, Gehrmann Laboratories, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia

    Ian Polkinghorne

  5. Queensland Health and Scientific Services, 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plain, Qld, 4108, Australia

    Greg A. Smith

  6. Institute for Molecular Bioscience; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia

    John S. Mattick

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  1. Sandeep Guliani
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  2. Ian Polkinghorne
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  3. Greg A. Smith
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  4. Peter Young
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  6. Timothy J. Mahony
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Correspondence to Sandeep Guliani.

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Guliani, S., Polkinghorne, I., Smith, G.A. et al. Macropodid Herpesvirus 1 Encodes Genes for Both Thymidylate Synthase and ICP34.5. Virus Genes 24, 207–213 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015396430131

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015396430131

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