[Marburg virus: the first determined nucleotide sequence of two genes]

Abstract

The preparations of purified Marburg virus were isolated from blood plasma of infected guinea pigs and characterized. Viral RNA was extracted from the virions. The cDNA was synthesized on the isolated RNA matrix by the reverse transcriptase with the use of dissipated priming. The obtained cDNA was inserted into the plasmid pBR322 by the connector technique and the resulting recombinant plasmids were cloned in Escherichia coli cells. The specific clones selected by molecular hybridization method were analyzed by the restriction mapping and cross-hybridization. Four overlapping cDNA clones were found and the virus specific 5012 bp fragment of the viral genome was sequenced. Three open reading frames were found and the preliminary analysis of the coded amino acid sequence and corresponding genes was fulfilled.