THE COMPLETE DNA-SEQUENCE AND THE GENETIC ORGANIZATION OF THE SHORT UNIQUE REGION (U-S) OF THE BOVINE HERPESVIRUS TYPE-1 (ST STRAIN)

The DNA sequence of bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) ST strain (BHV-1.2 subtype) entire unique short (U-s) region and part of adjacent flanking sequences of the inverted repeats was determined. The BHV-1 ST U-s region is 9745 bp in size and has a 70.5% G + C content. Eight potential open reading frames (ORFs) longer than 100 amino acids and designated ORF1 to ORF8 were identified on this sequence. Seven of these had counterparts in the U-s of herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1), pseudorabies virus (PRV), and equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-I). BHV-1 ORF2 encodes a protein homologous to HSV-1 US2; ORF3 putative protein exhibits homology with HSV-1 US3 (serine-threonine protein kinase); ORF4 encodes a putative glycoprotein homologous to PRV gG (gX) and EHV-1 gG (gX); ORFs 5, 6, and 7 encode respectively HSV-1 glycoproteins gD, gl, and gE homologues; and ORF8 codes for a putative homologue of HSV-1 US9. Although BHV-1 ST strain apparently lacks a HSV-1 US1 homologue, the genetic content and the genomic organization of its U-s region was found to be similar to the general organization already described for HSV-1, EHV-1, PRV, and avian herpesviruses HVT and MDV U-s regions. In fact, the BHV-1 U-s region genomic organization is the closest to the general consensus determined from the comparison of known alphaherpesvirus U-s regions. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.