ARTICLE ABSTRACT
								DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.19005-0
								Online 11 March 2003

Genetic characterization of the unique short segment of Phocid herpesvirus type 1 reveals close relationships among alphaherpesviruses of hosts of the order Carnivora

B. E. E. Martina,¹ T. C. Harder² and A. D. M. E. Osterhaus^1,3

¹Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre, Hoofdstraat 94a, 9968 AG Pieterburen, The Netherlands
²Central Laboratory, Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, Max-Eyth-Str. 5, D-24537 Neumuenster, Germany
³Erasmus MC, Institute of Virology, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

To further characterize phocid herpesvirus type 1 (PhHV-1) at the molecular level, a cluster of genes comprising the complete unique short (Us) region of PhHV-1 has been cloned and sequenced. Within this region, ORFs were detected that code for the equivalent of the Us 2– protein of herpes simplex virus (HSV), a putative protein kinase, and for the glycoprotein equivalents gG, gD, gI and gE. In addition, two small ORFs downstream of gE, homologous to the Us 8.5 and Us 9 proteins of HSV were identified. Comparative analysis of the ORF encoding the gD equivalent of PhHV-1 identified the corresponding proteins of the alphaherpesviruses canine herpesvirus and, to lesser degree, feline herpesvirus as the closest relatives.

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© 2003 SGM

This article is now available in the June 2003 print issue of JGV (vol. 84, 1427–1430). The complete issue of the journal may be seen in electronic form on JGV Online.