The myxoma virus EcoRI-O fragment encodes the DNA binding core protein and the major envelope protein of extracellular poxvirus

The nucleotide sequences of the myxoma virus gene homologs encoding the DNA binding core protein (MF17) and the major envelope protein of the extracellular poxvirus particle (MF13) have been localized to the myxoma virus 4 kB EcoRI-O fragment. The EcoRI-O fragment is located approximately 22 kb from the left end of the 163 kb DNA genome and encodes homologs of the F12L, F13L, F15L, F16L, F17R and E1L genes of the Copenhagen strain of vaccinia virus. The inferred amino acid sequences of the myxoma virus EcoRI-O encoded products have been compared to the protein databases to identify related proteins. The myxoma virus open reading frames MF12, MF15, MF16, MF17 and ME1 encode homologs of poxvirus specific proteins while the MF13 envelope protein also shares amino acid similarity with other poxvirus and cellular proteins.