Elsevier

Virology

Volume 373, Issue 1, 30 March 2008, Pages 181-188
Virology

Protein coding content of the ULb′ region of wild-type rhesus cytomegalovirus

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2007.10.040Get rights and content
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Abstract

A recent comparison of two rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) genomes revealed that the region at the right end of the UL genome component (ULb′) undergoes genetic alterations similar to those observed in serially passaged human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). To determine the coding content of authentic wild-type RhCMV in this region, the ULb′ sequence was amplified from virus obtained from naturally infected rhesus macaques without passage in vitro. A total of 24 open reading frames (ORFs) potentially encoding > 99 amino acid residues were identified, 10 of which are related to HCMV ORFs and 15 to previously listed RhCMV ORFs. In addition, the analysis revealed a cluster of three novel alpha chemokine-like ORFs, bringing the number of predicted alpha chemokine genes in this region to six. Three of these six genes exhibit a high level of sequence diversity, as has been observed for the HCMV alpha chemokine gene UL146.

Keywords

Rhesus cytomegalovirus
Alpha chemokine
CXC chemokine
ULb′
Sequence diversity
Human cytomegalovirus
UL146

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