Comparison of the sequences and coding of La Crosse and snowshoe hare bunyavirus S RNA species

Abstract

The sequence of the S RNA of La Crosse bunyavirus was deduced from analyses of DNA copies cloned in the Escherichia coli plasmid pBR322. The S RNA is 984 nucleotides in length, has a base ratio of 31.8% U, 27.0% A, 23.2% C, and 18.0% G, and codes for two distinct gene products that are read from overlapping reading frames in the viral complementary strand. The larger gene product (N, 26.5 x 10(3) daltons) contains 235 amino acids, and the smaller gene product (NSS, 10.4 x 10(3) daltons) has 92 amino acids. Comparisons with the published sequences of the related snowshoe hare bunyavirus S RNA and its gene products (Bishop et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 10:3703-3713, 1982) indicate that there are a total of 114 nucleotide differences (6 additions or deletions and 108 substitutions). Also, there are 22 amino acid differences between the N proteins and 12 amino acid differences between the NSS proteins of the two S RNAs.