Nucleotide sequence and transcriptional mapping of the major capsid protein gene of pseudorabies virus

Abstract

The gene encoding the 142-kDa major capsid protein (MCP142) of pseudorabies virus (PrV) was isolated and sequenced. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the MCP142 gene has a single open reading frame of 3993 nucleotides (nt) encoding 1330 amino acids. The 4400-nt major RNA from the MCP142 gene was detected in PrV-infected cells. The 5' end of the transcript was located 60 nt upstream of the initiation codon. The 3' end of the transcript was located 18 nt downstream of a putative poly(A) signal sequence TATAAA and 133 nt downstream of the termination codon. In comparing amino acid sequence homology between MCP142 of PrV and other available herpesviruses MCP was shown to have 58% homology with herpes simplex virus type 1 and varicella-zoster virus, 27% with Epstein-Barr virus, and 24% with human herpesvirus 6 and human cytomegalovirus. It has greater homology with those of the alpha-herpesviruses than with those of the beta-herpesviruses and the gamma-herpesviruses.