Sequence and genetic arrangement of the UL region of the monkey B virus (Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1) genome and comparison with the UL region of other primate herpesviruses

Abstract

The complete DNA sequence of the unique long (U(L)) region of monkey B virus (BV) was determined. Based on sequence homology and the presence of transcriptional control element motifs, homologues of every open reading frame present in the U(L) region of the Human herpesvirus 1 (herpes simplex virus 1, HSV-1) and Human herpesvirus 2 (herpes simplex virus 2, HSV-2) genomes were identified in BV. The BV genes are arranged in the same order and orientation as in HSV. These results demonstrate that the BV U(L) region is entirely co-linear with that of HSV-1 and HSV-2.